


Campus

by necromanced



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: M/M, and it's really cliche but i like it, cute fluffy stuff idk, jean is at a new school and things ensue
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-18
Updated: 2014-09-16
Packaged: 2018-02-09 09:39:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 22,362
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1978026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/necromanced/pseuds/necromanced
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jean Kirschtein is a hood rat, known for fighting others and getting expelled from school. Marco Bodt is just a regular junior in high school who is more than happy to welcome Jean to Trost high. Feelings ensue as Marco and Jean spend some time together, Jean considering cleaning up his act so he can better himself, not only for his family and his future, but his new friends he's made at a school that's so tight knit, it's like a family away from his family.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Boo

All Jean was supposed to do was walk around the campus and sit in on a few classes, but he found it hard to pull himself away from Trost high as soon as he arrived.

After being expelled from two different schools in the past year and a half (due to fighting), Jean's family was desperate to find him a good school to attend while not breaking the bank. They weren't well-off to begin with, and with Jean constantly scrapping with people and sometimes even being detained by the cops, they were thrown into debt more and more. Jean felt bad -- of course he did. He knew that what he was doing was wrong, but fighting was his life, and school was just there as background noise. It wasn't a nice way to go about life, but it got him through the days and nights comfortably.

Jean yawned loudly as he stretched his arms out and clenched his eyes shut, ignoring what the woman at the desk was explaining to his parents. It was the same thing he'd heard at the past two schools; bullying isn't tolerated, fighting isn't acceptable, drugs are not allowed on campus, blah blah blah blah.... The only different things were the people around him.

Trost high was actually gorgeous, and a prestigious private school meant only for those who were extremely talented in one form or another. Jean really didn't have any talents that made him shine like any of the other kids at that place, but his parents had a friend who pulled a few strings and managed to enroll Jean just a little after the new year started. Of course they warned him that the fighting would have to stop, and that he would have to be on tip-top behavior just to make it through the first week. Jean's parents lectured him for an hour before they actually got to the school. Jean nodded his head along, but he didn't really care.

The newspaper on the desk in front of Jean read, "Track team's first relay proves to be promising!" A school newspaper, no doubt about it, Jean thought. The rest of the city doesn't care about this crap. Underneath the headline was a picture of a young girl in her track uniform, holding up her number with a deadpan face. Jean squinted his eyes at her. __She's pretty cute_ ,  _ he thought before looking at the caption just beside the photo. " _The star track runner, Mikasa Ackerman, holding her up her lucky number after setting a new record for the high jump. Mikasa says she plans to finish off the track season strong so she can join the baseball team with her friend, Eren Yeager, just before the season begins."_

Jean unconsciously found himself blushing.  __That's even cuter, oh my god_. _

"This is one of our student assistants we have. Marco, these are the Kirschtein's, and that is their son, Jean." The woman at the desk pointed to the parents, then nodded toward Jean, who sat blushing at the gorgeous picture of Mikasa in the newspaper. He would definitely have to seek her out at least once or twice while he was there, however short that time may be.

"Nice to meet you." An unfamiliar voice said, which made Jean look up curiously to see where this new found tone was coming from. For the most part, his parents were just kissing ass to make sure that Jean got into the school without a problem, but this new one sounded hopeful, and kind of goofy, in a way. He seemed to excited to be greeting some random family and their kid. When Jean looked up, he spotted a young boy, perhaps a year or two older than him, reaching his hand out to his parents and grinning widely. Jean studied his face while he wasn't paying attention; his cheeks had freckles randomly splattered all over them, and his eyes were big and full of happiness. The smile he wore on his face was warm; it suited him.

Nonetheless, Jean gave a quiet "tch" before returning his attention to the newspaper. On the next page, there was an editorial about how the school should be spending their extra money. A part of the school voted for the arts to get most of the money, while another part voted that sports should get it for new busses and equipment. The faculty argued the money should be distributed fairly among all the clubs and extracurricular activities, while others simple claimed the school should save the money for a rainy day. It was full of lengthy opinions and facts as to why they should or should not do this.

"Oh, excuse me." Marco said, then walked over to the side of Jean. He reached his hand out to the young boy, smiling lightly before Jean looked up. He was kind of cute too. "Sorry for being so rude. I'm Marco Bodt, I go here."

Jean glanced at the hand that was outstretched to him before he took it within his own and stood himself up. Marco was put off for just a moment before he pulled Jean to a standing position and smiled again. "Nice to meet you." Marco repeated what he said to Jean's parents, and Jean already decided that he didn't like that other boy. He seemed far too happy to be at school to be honest, and that was one thing Jean really hated: dishonest people.

"Yeah." Jean simply said before shoving his hands in his pockets and walking towards the door of the office.

"Marco is going to be escorting you around the campus for your first day, Jean." His mother called, running after him with an exasperated sigh. "Isn't that nice?" Jean shrugged. "Don't be that way." She warned before pinching his ear and pulling him back to her side. Jean hissed and complained loudly, to which he could hear his father giggling slightly at. Jean's face went red with embarrassment. She was even doing this in front of someone else. God, she was annoying. "Now, you better behave, Jean. This is your last chance, and I just want you to stay at a school for more than a few months." Her tone went serious. "You have a great potential, Jean. But you're wasting it on fighting and going to jail. Is that what you want to do with your life? Spend it all in prison?"

"No!" Jean snapped hastily, jerking his head out of her reach so she couldn't pinch his ear anymore. He rubbed it with the back of his hand, grumbling softly while his mother gave a nonchalant glance to her husband, who left right after to warm up the car. Jean met eyes with her again, and she silently threatened him.  _Don't screw this up, Jean, or we will send you to a correctional school so fast, your head will spin._

Jean nodded, and then she gave him a peck on the forehead and turned on her heel to leave. Jean watched as she walked out of the door, her body swaying with the winter winds that whipped around outside. After she was out of sight, Jean huffed and rolled his eyes. Only then did he remember that there was someone by his side, and he watched the entire thing. Jean looked at the freckled boy beside him, who simply smiled and then allowed his face to relax. "How long you been here?" Jean said.

"O-oh... I've been here since I was a freshman."

"And what are you now?" Jean pressed, slightly annoyed by the boy's response, or lack thereof.

"I'm a junior. What about you?"

“Sophomore, but I should be a junior. My credits were lost when I was transferring schools once so I had to retake all of my freshman classes.” Jean said, not caring if the boy in front of him really wanted to know or not. “It's really lame actually, being held back a year. I mean, I skipped a grade back when I was younger, but now I just fell back again.”

“That's disappointing.” Marco said softly. “Maybe you could skip a grade here! I've never heard of it happening, but I'm sure if you pull the right strings, you could-”

“You're annoyingly happy.” Jean pointed out, interrupting the freckled boy as the other stumbled over what he thought he should say. “It's weird. Are you sure you're human?” Jean flicked Marco's forehead, stifling a laugh as the other boy rubbed his forehead gently.

“Sorry!” Marco apologized. “I guess I'll try to not be so annoying.” Marco paused, then pointed an accusing finger at Jean. “Hey, you should respect me a little more, I'm your senior, y'know!”

“Maybe grade-wise, but mentally.... I think I'm a bit more experienced than you are.”

Marco pouted slightly, opening the door to the building and letting Jean walk out first before he told Jean to follow him around, offering to introduce him to all the teachers he should know. Jean argued that he should only have to meet the teachers he would see every day, but Marco continued and said that if Jean was hoping to stay there permanently, he should learn most of the staff, for future reference. Jean sneered slightly, laughing at the idea of staying for longer than a few months before he heard the bell ring from a speaker not too far away.

“Ah, that's second period. We'll have to wait until the halls clear up. Uhm, could you follow me, please? I have to get something from my locker, and I would really like to keep you with me.” Marco pointed down to a building where lockers lined the walls. “Our office building and our school itself is separated, kind of weird, but... yeah. Will you please just follow me? Try not to get lost.” Marco began the trek to his locker, managing to keep himself from being pushed by the sea of people walking to their classes. He held the door open for Jean, who blushed lightly but thanked Marco, searching the crowds of people leaving their classrooms. They all looked weak, Jean thought, and laughed at the idea of them ever trying to fight him. What, was this a school for wimps?

“Marco!” Somebody shouted from in front of him, and a young blonde man ran up, meeting up with Marco at his locker. “Hey! How are you?” He began. “Are you ready for baseball practice? It starts soon!” The blonde paused, peering around Marco's shoulder and spotting Jean just beside him. “Marco. Who's that?” He nodded in the general direction of Jean.

“Oh, sorry! I haven't properly introduced you. Armin, this is Jean Kirschtein. He just transferred here.”

“Ah, nice to meet you!” Armin bowed slightly. “I'm Armin Arlert. I'm a sophomore at this school.”

“Same.” Jean replied softly, averting his gaze to a group of young boys who kept eying Jean at the end of the hall. He glared at them, his look intensifying before Marco scolded him.

“Be nice.” He urged. Jean furrowed his brows in confusion and annoyance. Who was this kid to tell him how he should act? What was he, his mother?

“Hey, Marco!” Another voice came from behind the freckled face, and Jean looked to find the face of a young kid with brown hair and big blue eyes, and a young girl behind him, the same girl in the newspaper he saw in the office. His face immediately flushed to a beet red, and his eyes widened slightly, trying to take in whatever he could about her appearance. She wore a loose muscle shirt that showed off her arm muscles, and black jeans to mirror her pitch black hair. She looked up, making eye contact with Jean. Her gaze intimidated him like nobody's ever done before. Jean shivered before bothering to work up a smile towards her. It was only after that Jean realized she hadn't been looking when he smiled at her.

“Eren!” Marco said, shutting his locker as he held a few books close to his chest. “And Mikasa, always nice to see you.”

“Hello, Marco.” She said, and her voice nearly made Jean's heart melt where he stood.

“Are you excited for baseball? It starts soon!” Eren said the same thing that Armin said, not bothering to pay mind to Jean either. “I'm so hyped up, man. I can't wait until I'm there again.”

“Did I introduce you to the new student? His name is-”

“Dude, I don't care.” Eren said quickly and bluntly, earning a quick scolding from Armin and Marco both. Jean sneered, scrunching up his nose and taking a step forward as soon as he heard Eren say that.

“What'd you say, bean sprout?” Jean said, leaning over very slightly to make eye contact with Eren.

“You're like an inch taller than me, man, get over yourself.” Eren smirked slightly. “Besides, you don't even look that scary. How old are you? 13? 14?”

“I'm 15, you jackass!” Jean shouted, he and Eren stepping closer until there came a soft voice from beside them.

“Stop it.” Mikasa ordered, pushing Eren away before she stepped away from Jean, not bothering to say another word. “You need to stop fighting. This is why you started baseball, so you wouldn't fight so much, remember?” Mikasa said, lecturing Eren until she had him backed into a corner, ashamed and embarrassed as people snickered while they walked by. Armin apologized for Eren, saying that he had a past of fighting people for Armin's sake, but now did it for the hell of it. He had been suspended a few times before, and if he was in trouble again, he'd be expelled this time.

Eren stuck his tongue out at Jean as he and Mikasa walked away, Jean responding by flipping him off with a grimace.

“Jean, already?!” Marco tried covering Jean's hand with his own, looking around to see if teachers were looking. “Sorry, Armin, we'll have to talk later. I have to finish giving Jean a tour of the campus. Let's talk at lunch!”

Armin waved, then bid Jean a nice day before he left to catch up with Eren and Mikasa, pushing his way through the crowded halls of Trost high.

Marco tugged on Jean's sleeve, pulling him towards a hall full of classrooms that chattered quietly as the warning bell rang. Marco walked in, bowing towards the teacher and then forcing Jean to do the same by pushing his head down. Jean grumbled softly at Marco afterwards, arms crossed over his chest as the teacher smiled at him and shook his hand.

“That was your english teacher. He's very nice to everybody, so if you're ever mean to that teacher, I will hunt you down, Jean.” Marco said, leading the way to another set of halls. “This is the clubs hall. It's basically like a big hallway for each sports team and club there is. This one is track, that one is band, this one is for volleyball, boys and girls, and that one is for choir and theater. There's the one for baseball. I'm so psyched to get that one open soon.”

“You play baseball.” Jean said flatly. Marco nodded. “What position?”

“Ah... I used to play pitcher a lot, but now I play shortstop and second base, most of the time.”

“Hm.” Jean said, acknowledging that he heard what Marco said, though showing no interest as he walked nonchalantly through the halls. “Do I really need to meet all these teachers?”

“No, not really.” Marco admitted. “I'm just trying to get you familiar with the school, and... familiar with somebody. Just in case you need someone to hang out with, y'know?” Marco continued. “I don't know if we'll be very good friends, considering you don't seem to like me much, but I'm always here for anybody, so if you ever needed somebody to talk to, I'm here for you.”

Jean huffed slightly, mumbling under his breath about how lame that was, but all he could do to Marco was sigh. What a hopeless kid, making friends with everybody like this was kindergarten again.

“And over here is the haunted part of our school that nobody goes in.” Marco pointed down a hall that radiated a chilly feeling that made Jean shake slightly. “There's a ton of stories about that hall, but only I know the true story.”

“W-what is it?” Jean said, cursing himself for stuttering. Marco turned to Jean, a serious look on his face as he stepped closer.

“A girl who used to go here was so bullied by others that she held a terrible grudge against those people, and swore that she would get them back for treating her so terribly. Eventually, the bullies cornered her and were bullying her like normal when suddenly she passed out for no reason. Nobody knew why she died. Some said it was from fear, others said it was because she simply gave up. However, when she died, her ghost stayed, haunting the halls and eating up the hearts of the bullies that tormented her.” Marco paused, making eye contact with Jean whose hands were shaking at his sides. “But since she didn't know the names of her bullies, just their faces, she now eats up the hearts of anybody who looks like the kids that bullied her, because she thinks that it's the same kids coming back to bully her agai- _BOO_!” Marco shouted, making Jean jump back and fall on his behind as he shrieked loudly. Marco clapped his hands together, laughing so hard, some tears fell past his cheeks.

Jean huffed loudly, looking to his right just down at the haunted hall. It was dark and gross looking, he thought, before Marco reached a hand out to him.

“I'm sorry, that was kind of mean. I just love doing that to new kids though.” Marco pulled Jean up off of the floor, the other boy stuffing his hands in his pockets and walking ahead of the freckle faced guide.

“I was just acting scared so you would keep going.” Jean lied. “I wasn't actually scared.”

Marco leaned forward, making a quiet, creepy noise in Jean's ear before the other boy gasped loudly and jumped away, making Marco laugh harder.

“Ha. Ha.” Jean purposely spaced out his words. “You're an ass.” He stated, poking Marco in the chest before he looked behind Marco, down at the haunted hall again, and he swore he saw something move at the end of it before a light flickered on and off. “Holy shit. Can we leave? Please.” Jean said, pulling Marco by his arm before Marco beckoned Jean to stop.

“Hold on. I need a minute.”

“Nope.” Jean ordered, pulling Marco further and further away from the hall before he finally felt a sense of comfort around him again. “I am never going down there alone. Ever. Holy shit.” Jean said, showing a side of himself that he wasn't sure was there anymore. He was actually afraid.

Marco grinned, his smile warm and comforting to Jean before he continued up some stairs, pulling Jean by his wrist, though he wasn't really sure, since Jean was behind him. “Anyway, here are some more buildings you should know. The counselors, the math teacher, the writing teacher, the Spanish teacher. They're all very nice. Oh, and this is the copy room. Sometimes, if teachers trust you enough, and you've finished all your work on time, the teachers will ask you to run copies. You can either come here, or go to the office, or go down the haunted hall where there's one in there, but it always breaks down, so we usually don't use that one unless we're desperate.”

Marco continued blathering on, talking about the various classrooms around them and all the teachers Jean should know for his time at Trost, however long it was. Jean wasn't listening at all though. He couldn't focus on his words due to the fact that Marco was holding onto his hand, pulling him down the halls with a warm smile on his face.

 


	2. Sweets and things

A school shouldn't grow on somebody. It's a school, it should never grow on _anybody_. But Trost high somehow grew on Jean Kirschtein who managed to avoid getting in a fight for a whole month and a half at his new school. Even though he had plenty of chances to start fighting with Eren Yeager's smug ass, he decided he had better things to do with his time, like try to actually finish his homework on time because his math teacher was always on his case about it, and beating Eren's running record in gym because that record was weak, and Jean could definitely beat it if he put his mind to it.

Maybe it wasn't the school itself, but the people that grew on him. Armin was accommodating and kind with Jean, despite the awkwardness between them the first time they met, and Jean even talked to Mikasa once or twice, though it was mostly him stumbling through a conversation while she nodded along. Marco introduced Jean to other people that he knew from the baseball team. Connie was a really loud freshman, but he was fun to chill with, Jean decided, and Sasha was a little out there, but still nice to him. Marco said there were some seniors he wanted Jean to meet once baseball started, since they were on the team, and it'd be nice for Jean to expand his friend group that way.

Marco was, to say the least, nice to Jean from the start, and definitely made him feel comfortable around the campus (even when Jean got lost on his way to gym the first few times from trying to avoid the 'haunted hall' and anything associated with it). The freckled boy bought him lunch the for the first week he was there because Jean didn't have money in his account yet, and Marco said he could go a few days without eating lunch, even after Jean protested loudly and tried giving him his food back. He was too kind for words, it was unreal.

The new school was going over smoothly, and before Jean knew it, he was passing some classes with B's and C+'s, which was a pleasant surprise considering all he did was fail in previous classes.

“Hey, Jean!” Marco beamed at the other boy sitting on the floor who frantically shut his math text book and stuffed it in his backpack. Jean couldn't have Marco see him study, not since he was trying to pull off a “rebel without a cause” look.

“Hi.” Jean replied, dropping his voice slightly as Marco sat down in front of him, setting down his food.

“Aren't you eating?” Marco pursed his lips while he picked up his can of iced tea, popping the top and taking a swig before he offered it to Jean. “Don't worry, I'm not sick or anything.”

“Thanks.” Jean took it. “I'm not feeling real hungry today. My stomach feels kind of weird.”

“Oh... Maybe you shouldn't drink my tea then.” Marco jokingly reached for his drink, but Jean just smirked and called Marco an ass before taking a drink and swishing the sweet liquid around his mouth. “You can have it actually. I should be drinking water. Gotta stay hydrated!”

“Yeah, don't you have practice or something like that?” Jean said, swirling the can around in his hand. “When's your first game?”

“We _do_ have practice today. I'm so glad you listen to me when I talk, Jean!” Marco teased lightly, picking up his sandwich and taking a bite, a tomato falling down to the napkin on his lap. “And I don't know when our first game is. We should have a schedule by next week though.” Marco ripped his sandwich in half and stretched his arm out to Jean. “Are you sure you're not hungry? You might be hungry later.”

Jean glared at the food, then at Marco, but reluctantly took it. “You can't coddle me like this. You should be eating so you can do stuff at practice. Y'know, like bat and pitch and stuff.”

“Ah, my batting is sub par.” Marco said, wiping some mayo from his lips. “And pitching.... Eh. I'm mostly looking forward to second base.”

“Yeah, a lot of guys look forward to that.” Jean giggled, earning a scoff from Marco, but a smile from him as well. “You play short stop too, right?

“Indeed, young one, but only during away games..” Marco said, swallowing a piece of ham before setting his sandwich down. “Connie plays short stop for home games.”

“Did I hear my name?” Connie jumped in, leaning over the bench beside Jean and taking the iced tea can from beside him. “Hey, thanks man, I was really thirsty.”

“Don't be rude.” Jean smacked Connie's hand playfully, making iced tea spill on his face as he carelessly slurped it from the can.

Marco giggled softly, stretching out his legs and resting his foot beside Jean's own, when he noticed Jean wasn't wearing the school's assigned shoes, but his own black Converse.

“You're going to get in trouble!” Marco scolded him, but he couldn't help the smile that stayed plastered on his face.

“Hey, man,” Jean began, standing up and wiping himself clean of the crumbs from the sandwich, “if I'm going to stay in this podunk high school, then I gotta be punk rock somehow.”

“Oh, what a sacrifice you're making, being punk rock for our preppy little school.” Marco said.

“Someone's gotta do it. I know, I know, hold back your applause.” Jean said, giving his friend a smile before the bell chirped from above, Connie dumping the empty iced tea can next to Jean so he could throw it away instead, running towards Sasha's side before they slipped out of the cafeteria and started back to their classrooms.

The days were usually like that, and Jean enjoyed it a little, to be honest. When Yeager wasn't in his face about how rude he was, he actually thought about how cool it would be to hang around this place for a while. Connie was probably one of his best bros, and even though Jean was rude to Marco the first time they met, they too were pretty close. Maybe keeping his record clean wouldn't be so hard this time around.

**

It was getting a little warmer outside. Jean noticed the warm breeze as soon as he stepped out of the building, getting ready to leave and run to the bus. As he spotted others walking towards the bus and hopping on, trying to get the best seats before it was crowded, Jean grimaced and turned around, walking back into the school building.

Marco had practice, and invited Jean to watch just to see if he was interested in playing, but Jean's mom asked him to come home early so he could watch the dogs while she went out. The idea of staying for practice was so tempting though, as he watched Marco run down the haunted hall along with Connie, Sasha, Mikasa, Eren, and Armin by his side. Jean cocked his head, wondering if the school actually allowed boys and girls to play on the same team. With a shrug, Jean turned on his heel and started for the doors again, only to be stopped by what seemed to be a human wall.

Jean fell back on his butt with a loud 'Oof!' before he dared to look up at the person before him.

“Hey, what's the big idea?!” He shouted, clenching his fist, but losing his attitude quickly as soon as he spotted the tall, blonde teen in front of him. As Jean's eyes widened, he saw the other teen beside him reach a hand out, apologizing profusely before he helped Jean stand up. Jean wiped his palms on his pants, trying to keep himself from getting clammy as the blonde stared him down, eyes intense as Jean kept his eye contact elsewhere. Beside both of the young men was a young blonde woman, about a foot shorter than all three of them, but more intimidating as she pushed past Jean and started down the hall without a word.

“Sorry, we didn't mean to bump into you!” The black haired boy said, pushing his long sleeves up his arms. He reached his hand out to Jean. “I'm Bertholdt, and this is Reiner.” Bertholdt gestured towards the blonde beside him. “Ah, the girl that just brushed past you, her name is Annie.”

Jean stared at the hand before him, stunned as he looked up and took Bertholdt's hand. The trio – Reiner, Bertholdt, and Annie – were quite the talk of the school a lot of the time. They were practically inseparable, and yet, not many knew much about them. Marco had mentioned Reiner a few times before, but Jean didn't know that Reiner was the tall blonde in that group. Jean took Bertholdt's hand in his own and nodded quickly.

“Okay.... Well, we have to get to practice now.” Bertholdt said a bit awkwardly, his attempt to move past Jean stopped short as the brunette grabbed his arm.

“Wait, like, baseball practice?” Jean said excitedly. “You're on the baseball team?”

“Yeah. All three of us are. I'm sorry, you are....”

“Jean Kirschtein, but I'm new here, I've only been here for a month and a half. I'm, uhm, friends with Marco.”

“Marco?” The blonde suddenly chimed in, his voice a bit rugged, but still friendly. Jean nodded, taken aback by the sudden outburst from the blonde. “Marco's a good kid! If you're friends with him, that means you've gotta be a good kid, too. C'mon!” Reiner grabbed onto Jean's neck, putting him in a hold as they walked down the haunted hall, Bertholdt trailing behind them before they turned a corner, and Jean swore he still saw something dark in the corner of the hall. “You should watch our practice, see if you wanna join.” Reiner laughed after he said that, dragging Jean along as the brunette uselessly tried to escape, internally dreading the lecture he would get when he got home.

**

As it turned out, the school did allow girls to be on the same team as boys, which Jean thought was pretty interesting. Not a lot of places were so relaxed on that type of thing. Mikasa, Annie, and Sasha were all part of the team, and Christa, a girl Jean had never met or even heard of, was their manager, a pint sized sophomore who helped the coach out a lot more than she should have. Their coach was a little out there as well, a tall brunette named Hanji, but Marco had told Jean that they were a very good coach and were very enthusiastic about their games.

Reiner had dragged Jean along the entire time as they changed into some shorts and a t-shirt.

“W-what year are you guys?” Jean asked as he kept his back turned and gaze averted. Annie was changing in the corner of the room, silently, but still terrifying. “I'm a sophomore.”

“We're all seniors.” Bertholdt replied. “That's really weird to say.” Bertholdt added that bit in, making Reiner chuckle softly, and Annie even cracked a smile.

“Wow...” Jean said. “Seniors....”

“Are you shocked that we're seniors, or what?” Reiner said, to which Bertholdt elbowed him in the side as they led the way out of the club room and headed down the hall to the baseball diamond.

“N-no, it's just that, I've seen you guys around school, and everyone always talked about how cool you guys were, and Marco even mentioned that I should meet you guys, but I had no idea you were on the baseball team, but since I didn't know who you guys w-were I just thought you were so cool from afar!” Jean finished his mess of a thought with a weak chuckle. Bertholdt smiled at him as he held the door for the others before walking out into the crisp spring air. “I was intimidated by how cool you guys are.”

“Nah, don't be.” Reiner said. “I'm the only cool one here. Bertholdt is just a tall dweeb, and Annie is cute as a button, but not cool.”

“Reiner's not cool.” Annie spoke for the first time, her cheeks tinged with a light pink, probably from the comment Reiner made. “Reiner's like a teddy bear. Cuddly. But not cool. He's just as much as a dork as you are, Jean.” She finished softly, Bertholdt giggling at Reiner's red faced scoff.

The diamond was full of people already, standing in a line next to each other while a tall brown haired person stood in the middle, talking to each of them.

“Shit, we're late.” Reiner said before running down to the diamond with Bertholdt and Annie close behind. The brown haired person scolded them, but let them in the line of people as Jean took a seat on the bleachers behind the fence and listened in.

Marco stood in the line next to Armin and Mikasa, his hands fidgeting behind his back before he looked over his shoulder, Jean waving at the freckled boy before giving him a thumbs up. Marco grinned, turning his attention back to their coach who rambled on and on before the short blonde beside them stepped in.

“We have a new school that decided they could play us with the girls on our team. We heard they're very strong, so our first game is against them, in about a week and a half. We're going to size them up from this game, and we don't expect you to win... Uh, not saying you can't win! But it really won't count as a loss..." The blonde, obviously frazzled and nervous picked at her fingernail before composing herself. "It's a scrimmage! That's the word. A-anyways, we'll have our uniforms by the end of the week as long as somebody helps me take measurements of the players.” She finished. “Any questions?”

The team went silent as they looked among each other, shook their heads, and then earned a loud cheer from the coach.

“We're going to be amazing this year!” Coach Hanji said, their voice loud with excitement. They looked up at Jean, making eye contact before turning to Christa. “Who's that kid?” They mumbled to the side. Christa looked down at her clipboard, staring at the names checked off and then shrugging. "Is he a punk?"

“Ah, that's my friend!” Marco said quickly. “I told him to check out our practice to see if he's interested at all. I hope that was okay.” Marco said. Hanji laughed lightly.

"Oh, what a relief. I thought he was some punk kid or something. I was afraid I'd have to open a can of ass beating." Hanji waved it off. "But, all is good. Hey, kid! Wanna help us with some stuff?"

Marco turned to Jean, nodding frantically as he tried to get his friend to agree. Jean grimaced behind his hoodie, but stood up, shoved his hands in his pockets and nodded. He may as well go all out and do whatever he can before his mom murdered him when he got home.

**

Practice was tiring for Jean, and he wasn't even on the team. First he had to run to Hanji's car and grab a box full of baseballs that they kept for practice, and some extra bats since the school didn't have a lot of funding for bats and baseballs, and focused mainly on uniforms and bus fees. Marco seemed ridiculously happy that Jean was helping, even offering to help Jean move boxes and level out the diamond because the storms they had in the winter messed with the dirt. It was late by the time they finished, and Jean's mom was going to be _ticked_.

“Did you like it?” Marco said as he pulled his shirt off over his head, the two boys the only ones in the club room as they stayed a bit later to finish the diamond. “We didn't do a lot of practice like we normally do, but it was nice having you around to help!”

“Yeah, yeah, it was real nice.” Jean said, his voice rushed and irritated. “Can we hurry it up here? This place gives me the creeps, Marco.”

“Oh, sorry!” Marco said, tugging his shirt on and throwing his sweaty ones in his bag. “Hey, do you need a ride home? I told my mom I wouldn't be home until late anyways, so I could drop you off.”

“I don't have any gas money.” Jean said. “Actually, I'm broke as of right now. I have to look for a job.” Jean trailed off. Marco waved his hand, picking up his backpack and opening the door for Jean.

“That's okay. You helped us a lot today, so I'll consider it even. But next time, you'll owe me.” He said. “Gas, grass or ass, nobody rides for free.”

“Oh my god.” Jean said, his face a light pink as they started down the hall. “Wait a minute, you smoke? No way.”

“You don't know that.” Marco retorted quickly.

“Okay, now I know you're lying. No stoner would say that.”

“I'm not a stoner! I'm a teenager, I know when to have fun.” Marco argued quickly, looking over his shoulder for a second before his eyes widened slightly and he tapped Jean's shoulder, tugging on his jacket. “Jean. Jean, turn around. I saw something move down the hall.”

“Can we just leave? I hate this hallway. You're a complete ass for telling me that story.” Jean turned his body slightly to find Marco frozen in place as he squinted down the hall.

“Look. There's... something. A hand.” Marco whispered. Jean squinted his eyes, his voice trembling as he said he didn't see it. Then he tugged on Marco's arm. “No, look, there it is!”

“This is how people die in movies, idiot!” Jean pulled on Marco's arm again, the freckled boy taking a few steps before gasping.

“Look, Jean!” He said. Jean turned around just quick enough to see a pale arm curl around the corner of a wall. His heart practically burst out of his chest, and just as a light down the hall began to blink, Jean shouted and started running.

“Nope, we're getting the fuck out of here.” Jean shouted, jerking Marco behind him and sprinting out of the building and into the dark night. “I'm not dying tonight from some weird ass curse!” Jean kept pulling Marco, the freckled junior yelling for him to stop but Jean didn't listen. “Where's your car?!”

“That one!” Marco pointed, Jean quickly changing their path to Marco's black car and throwing himself onto the door before jerking the handle. “Hold on, I have to unlock it first!”

“Hurry, oh my god, I can't believe you made me look down the hallway, I hate you, I hate you, I hate you!”

The door clicked open and Jean swung it open so fast, he swore it would've broke off its hinges if he hadn't slammed it shut after he hopped in the passengers seat. Marco panted quietly, hand on his chest as he regained his composure. Jean shook his head, pulling Marco's keys out of his pocket and thrusting them into the ignition.

“Drive. Drive. Please.” Jean added the last please in, the freckled boy nodding and pulling out of the parking lot and onto a busy road where lights lined the road every few feet. Jean clutched his own chest as well, telling himself to calm down, that it was just his imagination, when he heard Marco guffaw from the driver's seat. Jean looked over at the junior, his face red from running so quickly, and hands trembling against the steering wheel.

“That was terrifying. I'm shaking.” He said, lifting his hand up.

“I'm never staying after practice with you, ever again.” Jean said, but a smile crept on his face as he looked up at Marco's frazzled eyes. He was ridiculously adorable for somebody who just saw a ghost, Jean thought. “I lied.” Jean said after a few minutes. “You wouldn't be the first one to die in a horror movie.” Marco laughed lightly, then asked Jean where he was going to take the brunette home. “Take a right here.”

“And why wouldn't I be the first one to die?” Marco said. “I mean, it was pretty obvious that I would have stayed there and stared at whatever that was before it killed me.”

“I'd save your ass before anything could happen to you.” Jean said. “Me saving your life right there, that counts as another free ride home.”

“Whaaaat?! No way!”

“I saved your life, and you're going to argue about your grassy ass thing? Your priorities are messed up, man.”

Marco shook his head, asking Jean where to turn now before he kept arguing with the brunette, but kept a playful smile plastered on his face as he looked at Jean's red face and decided to tease him a bit.

“You held my hand to get me out of there.” Marco joked, laughing as soon as Jean grew flustered and bright red. “Grabbed right onto it and pulled me out of there like a knight in shining armor.”

“Yeah.... So what?” Jean said, pouting slightly. “Take a left. My house is right at the end of the street.”

“Aw, you're so cute when I make you mad.” Marco teased, pinching Jean's cheek before earning a solid punch in the arm. “Ouch! Don't worry, Jean. I won't tell if you won't.”

"Quit acting weird." Jean said softly. "Anyway, I only grabbed your hand because you weren't getting out of there fast enough. Like I said, I would save you in any situation."

"How sweet!" Marco said.

Jean's face deepened to a deep tomato red, and he punched Marco once more before the freckled boy pulled up to the curb and unlocked the doors. Jean swung his door open, taking a step out before turning back to Marco.

“Wish me luck.”

“With what?”

“With my mom. She's going to murder me.” Jean sighed. “Man.... I didn't even call her to tell her I was at practice. Oh god....” Jean trailed off, then shut the door, leaning through the window instead. “Thanks for the ride though. And for practice. And for practically getting me killed by a ghost.”

“All in a day's work.” Marco said, saluting Jean with a smile on his face.

“Text me when you get home safe.” Jean said, making Marco stumble over his words. He nodded instead of trying to make a snarky comeback. “See you tomorrow.” Jean finished, starting towards his front door with a deep sigh. The kitchen lights were still on, which meant his mom was venting her anger through baking, and she was going to absolutely ream him out for being home so late. As Jean's hand reached for the doorknob, he heard Marco call his name.

“Just so you know, holding my hand doesn't count as getting some.” He laughed, then drove away as Jean flipped him off. Jean shook his head, opening the door and stepping inside. The warm scent of cinnamon dulled his senses and took him over as he realized he hadn't eaten all day, besides the half of a sandwich and iced tea Marco gave him. Jean kicked off his shoes, his dogs running up and sniffing them before yipping at his feet. As he trudged to the refrigerator door, he could feel his mom's eyes boring holes into his back. He shivered, grabbed some orange juice, and then sat down at the counter.

“Okay.” Jean said in an exasperated voice. “Hit me.”

“Jean Alois Kirschtein, you had me worried sick! Where were you, hm? Fighting with some stupid kid? Getting expelled again? Huh? Answer me!”

“No, mom, I was-”

“Oh, so that's not it, then please, tell me what you were doing! I'm just dying to know. I almost called the police! Your father convinced me not to, but I almost did it!”

“I-”

“Ooooh, this is _so like_ you, Jean. Your grades are finally turning around, you're getting along with the other kids, you're making friends. What, did you wait a month so we would leave you alone about this school before you could fight a kid?”

“Mom.” Jean began, but was quickly cut short by his mother's loud rambling as she continued baking, pulling a tray of cookies out of the oven and laying them on the stove top, her voice growing louder as she continued.

“I'm not qualified for this stuff, Jean, I am just a mom trying to do the best for her kid and all he does is- is goof around like his whole life is a game!” She slammed down a cake tin and went to the refrigerator to grab eggs, but stopped just a few feet before and hid her face in her hands. Jean jumped off of the counter, grabbing his mom and pulling her into a warm hug.

“Hey, don't freak out.” Jean began. “I was at baseball practice. I was kind of forced against my will to go? This huge blonde guy pulled me along, and I completely forgot to call you because the coach had me helping out on the field and stuff.”

“How'd you get home?” She sniffled.

“My friend gave me a ride!” Jean smiled. “I'm sorry I didn't call. I feel really bad, I know I should've called. I just wasn't thinking. Don't cry, mom, I'm sorry. You know how much I hate seeing you cry.”

"Then stop giving me reasons to cry!" She said, but not with her previously angry tone. Now it almost sounded like relief.... Jean's eyes softened and he wiped her tears away, apologizing once more. His mom nodded, accepting his apology silently as she wiped her nose with her sleeve. She turned around to her kitchen, finally realizing how many sweets she made while she was venting her anger. Cookies, cake, sweet bread, cupcakes, even a pie, sat in front of her. Jean held in a laugh in case she didn't think it was funny that he had her so worried she practically owned her own bakery now.

“I could take some to lunch tomorrow.” Jean said. His mom nodded, tired as she sat down in a chair and rested her aching feet.

“That'd be nice.”

"Oh, and mom?"

"Yes?" She looked up as Jean started towards the living room.

"If you called the police, they wouldn't have done anything." He teased before she slipped off her sandal and threw it at his butt, a loud yelp coming from his mouth before he sprinted up the stairs, avoiding her second sandal which came flying at him a few seconds later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please feel free to comment with typos!!


	3. Tuesdays and Thursdays

It was finally here, Marco thought, as he started towards the club room, making sure to catch up with Armin and Mikasa as they watched Eren sprint ahead of them, already changed into his uniform and pulling his shoes on as they walked along. Armin greeted the freckled boy behind him, remarking that he hoped their first game went well. Mikasa nodded and agreed, though the tone in her voice made her sound hesitant.

His heart was beating faster than normal, but that was to be expected when playing a strong school in their area, especially on their first game. Okay, so it wasn't so much a game as it was a scrimmage, but people were still coming to watch and cheer them on. Even so, Marco's hands were clammy, his legs seemed way heavier than normal, and walking down the hall took long than expected. As soon as Marco reached the club room, he was slightly dizzy, but tried to keep himself composed as he reached for his gym bag and pulled out his spotless white uniform. He brought it up to his nose and took a deep breath, the smell of home filling his senses before he set them down and noticed something odd in his bag. He reached in, pulling out a paper he hadn't remembered being in there before.

_Hey, man! I know you invited me to watch this scrimmage, but something came up, and I can't make it. I'm really sorry, I was looking forward to it. Make sure you kick ass!! Anyway, good luck, and I'll see you tomorrow. - Jean_

Marco bit his bottom lip with a grimace, putting the slip into his bag again as he slipped his shirt off and replaced it with his baseball t-shirt. It was a bit big for him, but he could deal with it for now. With a sigh, Marco quickly changed into the rest of his uniform, the obvious distaste on his face making Armin slightly suspicious.

“What's wrong?” The blonde said from the other side of the room. “You haven't said anything since we got in here. Aren't you excited?”

“Hm?” Marco looked up, his eyes bewildered, as though he didn't realize Armin was talking to him. “Oh, I'm just... just pre-game jitters!” Armin cocked his head and pursed his lips slightly, making Marco nervously laugh at his expression. “What's that look for?” Marco replied quickly. “You think I'm lying?”

“Oh, no.” Armin said.

“Good!”

“I _know_ you're lying.” Armin's voice was a bit snooty as he finished slipping his shoes on and headed for the door, Marco trailing behind as he slid on his own shoes and started down the hall with the blonde at his side. “Is Jean not coming?” Armin asked abruptly, stopping to wait for Marco to finish tying his shoes. “I thought you invited him at lunch today.”

Marco shrugged. “I-I did, but I guess something came up. He said he has something to do and he can't make it.”

“So, that's it.” The blonde said, nodding in realization. “Jean's not here. Okay, I got it.”

Marco pouted defensively, attacking Armin with a barrage of questions, to which the blonde simply replied with yes or no answers, a gentle smile appearing on his face as he noticed how flustered Marco became. He was so obvious, it was ridiculous, and yet... Armin got the feeling that Marco himself still hadn't realized it yet. So he didn't say anything to him, in hopes of allowing the freckled boy figure it out for his own good.

As soon as they stepped out of the gym and spotted the diamond, they were greeted by a loud cheer from their bleachers. On the opposing bleachers sat people from the other school they were facing, just as loud as they cheered on their confident players, who Marco noted, were all male.

“Why are so many people here?” Armin frowned. “It's just a scrimmage.”

“Do you think they decided to play us because they heard our team was good, or because they wanted to try and humiliate us?” Marco asked as they started towards the dugout. “I know a lot of schools are like that since we have some girl players, and I think it's stupid that they underestimate them so much.” Marco trailed off slightly, waiting for Armin to continue the thought, but the blonde simply looked at Marco and urged him to continue. “I mean, sometimes it even hurts me when they underestimate our players. They think because we have girls on our team, we must be weak and desperate, but those girls are the strongest players I have seen in a long time.”

Armin studied the crowd of people, then the players on the diamond who all eyed Trost's team very closely, namely Mikasa and Sasha as they picked out their bats and swung them for a few seconds each time, deciding which one was best for their swings.

“I think... they came to humiliate us.” Armin said. “Just from the way their teams acts towards our players already, they're not taking them seriously like any other opponent.” Marco scoffs lightly, earning a grimace from Armin as well as they finally reached the diamond, rubbing their hands in the dirt. “We'll just have to wipe their smug faces into the dirt, then.” Armin said.

Eren jumped out of the dugout, mitt in hand as he ran to Mikasa with white tape, bidding her to tape up his hand since he hadn't pitched in quite some time. She shook her hand, arguing that without the tape, Eren would get stronger, and better at pitching.

“Don't you miss your old positions?” Armin broke Marco's train of thought, turning towards him. “Eren pretty much took your spot as pitcher, you and Sasha switch for second base, and you don't play short stop during away games. You were our star player. You're okay with letting that all go for some punk freshman?”

“If that punk freshman can get us some wins, then yes!” Marco nodded. “Besides, I like switching up my spots. Keeps me on my toes, y'know?” Marco paused and laughed at Armin. “And that punk freshman is one of your best friends!”

“I know, I know.” Armin said with a gentle chuckle. “I love him with all my heart, he is my best friend. But, I just.... I don't know, feel bad, I guess.”

“Don't feel bad for me, then!” Marco exclaimed, tugging on the back of his shoes as they heard their coach call them towards the dugout. “If I was kicked out of my usual positions, it means that I lost them due to being weak. I'd rather have strong people there, so we can win, and play together until the very end.”

Armin shoved Marco slightly, calling him a hopeless romantic, but the words from Marco did lift his spirits a little. It was nice to know Marco wasn't bitter about the changes, though Armin couldn't help but notice that even though Marco insisted there was nothing bothering him, he didn't have the same cheerfulness he usually did when it came to games.

**

Jean's hands trembled against the paper in his hands as he sat with his legs crossed, trying to look like he had some sense of composure for this interview.

He had a job interview. Somebody actually overlooked Jean's previous misdemeanors and horrible educational background and considered him for a job, and now he was sitting there, application in hands as he looked around the room. It was mostly empty, but a few chairs sat in front of him. Jean even put on some decent looking clothes for the interview, trying to make the best impression he could.

With a huff, Jean whipped his phone out of his pocket and stared at the time. 4:30 pm. Jean chewed the inside of his cheek, tapping his shoe against the floor as he heard his possible future boss walk down the hallway. Jean fumbled with his cell phone, dropping it on the floor just as the door opened. Jean snatched it off of the floor and threw it back into his pocket, the woman apologizing for taking so long before she sat down in a chair before him, reaching her hand out to him.

“Mr. Kirschtein, is it?” She said. “I'm so sorry, we've been so busy lately, I've barely had a minute to breathe. Oh, is that your application?” Jean handed her the paper, the corners noticeably wrinkled from his fiddling around with it. “Mmhm... Same as the first application you sent me. Very well. Let's hypothetically speak about you getting this job.” She leaned forward. “Any special requests or conditions I should know about?”

Jean was ready to shake his head, ready to accept any hours she could give him, any shifts, but stopped himself short. He did have one small request. But would she be up for it...?

He swallowed the ball in his throat and nodded his head instead. “I.... I would like to have Tuesdays and Thursdays off. I will accept any hours after school, and on the weekends, but I really want Tuesdays and Thursdays to be my off days.”

The woman furrowed her brows, but considered the idea. Why would this teenage boy want days off separated instead of two consecutive days. Was it a mind thing? Should she just ask?

“I think I could work with that. Hypothetically speaking.” She grinned before winking at Jean, making the brunette boy's heart flutter in his chest.

**

Marco swallowed hard as he stood in the dugout, hands clenched as he held tight to the fence in front of him. Eren was pitching, after Marco pitched two innings, then was pulled out by coach Hanji. Christa stood beside Marco, antsy as her feet moved restlessly where she stood. Coach Hanji simply sat on a bench, glasses hiding any form of emotions they might have shown during this game.

Eren took a deep breath, then hurled the ball towards the bat, smiling deviously as it blew past the opponent and into Ymir's glove. She glanced to her left, staring Armin and Christa down before they both agreed on a pitch, clapping twice together. Ymir nodded, catching Eren's eye as she put down a two. He shook his head, but she simply shook her fingers again. When Eren huffed and sneered at their decision, she caught his attention again, then flipped him off. He pouted, but nodded at the two once again.

“Marco!” A loud voice shouted from the sidelines, seeing as mostly everybody was silent. Marco jumped at the sound of his voice, though he was sure he knew that voice. He took a moment to think about it, then heard his name being called again, though this time it was beside the dugout, Jean standing beside him, the only thing between them being the fence, with a smile on his face. “I made it.” He grinned. Marco flushed lightly, stumbling over his words before he realized Armin and Christa were clapping together again, this strike being the last one before it the inning was over, and they had to switch out.

“Jean! I-I thought you were busy today. Your note-”

“The thing I was doing ended early, a lot earlier than I thought it would. So here I am! Ah, but you're not up at bat.... And you're not pitching.” Jean noted, Marco's face darkening with shame at that statement. Hearing Jean say it sounded so much worse than Armin telling him, seeing as the blonde frequently brought up Marco's lack of motivation to get his positions back. “Yeager is pitching. Oh joy.” Jean rolled his eyes. “But I thought you would be pitching!”

“I...” Marco began, though he had no good explanation for why he wasn't. He just didn't have the perseverance the others had. He had no special skills. There was nothing fantastic about his pitching, and he wasn't the greatest at short stop. He even told Connie to be short stop for this game.

“Marco isn't in this game because he doesn't have the heart to stay in.” The coach said from their spot on the bench. They both jumped at the sound of coach Hanji's voice. Hanji leaned over, pulling their glasses off to meet with Jean's eyes. “Marco is a great player. He's got a heard of gold, and I'm very proud of him for sticking with us since his freshman year. But he's not putting his best effort in.”

Jean furrowed his brows, looking at Marco who looked at the ground with shame. His cheeks were tinged with red, and he shrugged lightly, nodding with what Hanji said.

“You're not serious, are you?” Jean mumbled to Marco. He just nodded again. “Why aren't you out there?”

“I'm just... I don't know.” He admitted softly. “I'm sorry you wasted your time coming here. It means a lot anyways.”

Jean tried to think of something to say as he watched whatever happiness left in Marco's expression slip away, but he didn't even try to fake a smile or a laugh or lie to Jean. All he did was look at the game, at Eren, at Mikasa, at their rivals, and he just stood there. But Jean was stubborn and hardheaded and he wasn't about to let his friend fall through the cracks as just another player. He had so much more potential. All he had to do was figure out how to make _Marco_ realize that.

**

They lost. Their team lost. The other team, made up mostly of freshman, decided that it would be funny to poke fun at the girl players, specifically Mikasa, who had decided not to pay any mind to them. Their coach didn't seem to care in the slightest as Hanji approached him, clearly taller than the other. The other coach reached a hand out to Hanji, who simply pulled him into a warm hug.

“Levi! It's been so long! You finally came around to playing with our team. They're fantastic, I'll have you know.” Hanji winked at the shorter man, a grin replacing the previous frown on their face.

“Then why did your kids just lose to mine?”

“Well, it's the start of the season, and we're not all up to snuff yet!” Hanji defended their team with a grin. “Hey, is Erwin still coaching his own team? I really want to play his kids, but he was like, 'Blah blah blah, your kids aren't skilled enough to take on mine, blah blah.' As if!”

“You're just as annoying as you usually are.” Levi remarked. “Nice to know. My team is a bunch of airhead punks. The juniors and seniors are great, but these freshmen are such idiots. Look at them.” He waved to a group of boys making fun of Mikasa, who was currently being held back by Armin and Eren, though Eren looked more than willing to let his adoptive sister tear them up. “Hey!” Levi shouted at the boys, who jumped at the sound of his voice, trembling in fear. “If you're going to make fun of a girl, go up to her face and do it! See how funny it is then.”

Ymir, being the tallest, stood up and towered over the other team's players, barely giving them a glance before she sneered and looked away. “Pathetic.” Jean stifled a laugh as soon as she said that, watching the other team quake with fear at the sight of her standing up. However, she didn't even give the other players second glance, but instead walked over to Christa, looking over the clipboard in her hand and pointing at the pages, her lips moving just barely as Christa nodded along, a warm smile on her face.

“Wouldn't Ymir be better off in a sport that demands height?” Jean said to Marco, whose calm demeanor had returned after the game was over. “Like volleyball or basketball or something? She would be so amazing at those.”

“Yeah, she would probably be amazing at those, or... any other sport she wanted to be amazing at! She's only here because Christa is here though.” Marco whispered the last sentence, hoping the freckled girl hadn't heard him. “She has a big crush on her. When Christa said she was going to join the baseball team as manager, Ymir practically begged to be let in as a player. She said she's always going to be there for Christa. It's really, really cute-”

“Talking about me, boys?” Ymir said from above Marco, who shivered and shook his head quickly, picking up his mitt and waving his hands innocently. “Mm. Who're you?” She nodded towards Jean, the brunette poking his own chest before she nodded. “Yes, you.”

“Jean K-Kirschtein!” He managed to spill out. She smirked at his voice, loving the way he was so obviously threatened by her presence. Christa pulled on Ymir's arm, tugging her away with a frown before she apologized and said Ymir had no filter from her brain to her mouth, earning a quick grimace from Ymir as she said that. Jean and Marco managed to get away, walking towards the club room again, waiting at the door for someone else to accompany them this time.

“Marco?” Jean began softly. The freckled boy looked up, a gentle smile already on his face as he acknowledged Jean's curiosity. “Why are you so relaxed about Eren taking your spot on the team?”

Marco's body tensed at the sound of the question, his shoulders slumping over with a heavy breath. “Coach already told you, didn't they? I'm just not putting in the effort it takes to stay in the game.”

“That's bullshit.” Jean said bluntly, the anger in his voice making Marco look into his eyes, only to see that he was serious. “Everyone told me that you're an amazing player. How am I supposed to see you play for myself if you're not even going to try?”

“But.... Eren is better than I am! I'd rather see him go out and win us a ton of games. It's still fun when he's out there anyways.”

Jean shook his head. “Don't give me that, man. If you think I'm going to let Yeager step all over you and make you think you're not as good as he is, you're dead wrong.”

“This isn't Eren's fault!” Marco exclaimed. “I'm actually really happy he's on our team. Please, don't be mad.” Marco patted Jean's shoulder, his hand trailing down Jean's arm before he pulled it away, stuttering out an apology. “This is my own fault. Don't worry about me.” Marco smiled, then noticed Armin, Mikasa, and Eren were approaching them, apparently going to the club room as well. “Shush. Don't make this a big deal.”

Jean pouted, his cheeks pink in embarrassment as Marco scolded him. As they stepped inside of the hallway, Jean trailed behind the group, glaring at the back of Eren's head. When Eren turned to peek at Jean, he stuck his tongue out, grinning as the brunette flipped him off once again and then turned his attention back to Armin and Mikasa. Jean gritted his teeth, trying to keep himself calm. If he got in another fight, he'd be expelled, and then he definitely wouldn't be able to see Marco play.

Jean shoved past Eren, walking at Marco's side with a smirk on his face. Eren grumbled softly, but Jean didn't mind either way. He wouldn't let that kid bug him anymore than he already had.

“Hey, did I tell you what I was doing earlier today?” Jean said with a grin. “I left you a note, right?”

“Yeah, but it didn't say what you were doing.” Marco replied. “I figured it was personal.”

“Oh, shit. I thought I put it on there. I applied for a job!”

Marco's expression changed entirely, from his false thoughtful smile, to an all out grin. “Really?” He said with a hopeful sounding voice. Oh, that's so fantastic! I'm so proud of you!”

“Ah, what are you, my mom?” Jean said with a hint of embarrassment. “It's no big thing, just a host at a restaurant around here. My mom knows the owner, so yeah.”

“This is so great.” Marco grinned.

“And I... er, I asked for Tuesdays and Thursdays off.”

“Tuesdays and Thursdays?” Marco cocked his head. “Why those days...?”

“It's... it's stupid, never mind.” Jean said. “Hey, could I get a ride back to my house? I'll pay you back once I have the money, I promise.”

“Don't worry.” Marco waved it off. “You're my friend. I'm not going to hound you for money.”

“Thanks.” Jean smiled, then opened the door, Armin offering to leave with him so he wasn't alone and scared, since he heard about Marco's and Jean's last catastrophe in the hall.

Marco slipped his shirt off over his head, enjoying the cool air that hit his skin with a shiver. Mikasa turned the corner, apologizing for invading Marco's privacy before she let out a soft 'um'.

“Hm? What is it?” Marco turned around just as he pulled a tank top over his head, the fabric ruffling his hair slightly.

“Jean... really likes you.” She said. “It's really nice.” Marco nodded slowly, trying to get her to get to the point. She just twiddled her fingers, trying to figure out exactly how to phrase it before Eren turned the corner as well, all changed up and wiping his face with a wet towel.

“Jean said he has Tuesdays and Thursdays off, right?” Eren said with the same inflection Jean had a few moments earlier.

“Yeah. It's weird though? He said it like I should have some great reaction.” Marco furrowed his brows.

“Marco,” Eren let out a breathy laugh, “what days do we have games?”

“Tuesdays and Thursdays!” Marco said, and then quickly realized what it was Jean had done. A smile grew on his face, and his hands clasped together. “Aww!!” He shouted. “Jean took them off to see our games! That's so sweet.”

“And he gets it.” Eren nudged Mikasa with his elbow, grabbing his bag off the floor and then opening the door for all three of them, Marco trailing behind slightly as he tried slipping on his shoes while walking. Mikasa glanced at the freckled junior, a gentle smile appearing on her face as she turned to Eren.

“But I don't think he really _gets_ it.” She whispered. Eren shrugged his shoulders, pulling his phone out of his pocket to call their mom.

“It's up to him to figure it out.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you find any typos, please comment with them!


	4. Boyfriend cute

Baseball games, though entertaining and energetic for the most part, were much longer than Jean expected. They usually lasted two hours, but sometimes went on for two and a half hours, if the game was too close to call in the last few innings. This was the second team they were playing, some small town school with big player, Marco said. The first time Marco's team played them, they won, but the second game wasn't so lucky. All they did was hit pop flies, and the game was over before they knew it. It was now the third game against them, the tie-breaking home game.

The freckled boy was playing as short stop while Jean sat bundled up in Marco's jacket because the wind had picked up and Jean didn't have one (Marco was more than willing to offer him his). The others in the stands had gone silent, for the most part, as nothing very exciting was happening, nor did they want to move so much when the wind was so chilly. Why was the weather so odd around this time?

Jean huffed as Eren threw another fastball, which the batter easily hit straight for left field. Bertholdt leaned over, readying himself for the quick ball in his mitt. The ball flew right into his hand, and he smiled, throwing it back to Eren with a smile.

“C'mon, Yeager!” Jean shouted from his spot on the bleachers. “Give us something to cheer for!”

Eren barely glanced up at Jean as he said that, but he knew he was going to hear something from him later for that smart remark.

One more out, and Marco would be up to bat first. Jean kept his fingers crossed, silently hoping that Eren would just strike this kid out, or get another pop fly at the very least. Eren heaved a small breath, readied himself, and then pitched the ball, this time a curve ball as it curled to the right and right into Ymir's glove. She tossed it back, towering over the short player in front of her.

Eren took another deep breath, but something seemed different about this pitch, even as he readied himself. His stance changed slightly, and the stiffness of his arm seemed to give in a bit. The ball flew out of his hand, to the batter, and cracked against his bat, the other player dropping and running to first while Annie, center field, caught the ball after it bounced once. She lazily picked it up, and nearly tossed it to Eren, seeing as the player would usually have stopped right after first base.

But the player continued, and it seemed like Marco was the only one who noticed, as he shouted out Annie's name, and she jumped from shock, nearly dropping the ball before she noticed the other team's player starting towards third base. With an uneasy hand, she threw it to Marco, the freckled boy right beside the other team's player, side to side, both sprinting at the same pace before Marco jumped for third base, completely forgetting that he could have tossed it to Mikasa, but instead, touched the base, then reached his hand out and touched the other player's leg as they tried to slide for third. Marco sputtered, keeping the dirt from flying into his mouth as he waited for it to clear up. The umpire sprinted up, leaning over and throwing his hand down.

“You're out!” He shouted. Mikasa picked up Marco with a grin and threw a hug around him. The other player grumbled softly, kicking dirt as they trudged to their dugout. Marco thanked Mikasa, but apologized profusely for not throwing her the ball, as it would have been much easier. He apparently didn't want her thinking he was trying to steal her moment. Mikasa seemed the least bit worried as they started back to their dugout, getting ready to go back on the diamond in a few seconds. Jean smiled to himself, slipping out of his spot so he could go up to the home dugout, speaking through the fence as Marco picked up his bat and tugged on the backs of his shoes.

“Nice job.” Jean said. “You run pretty fast.”

“Thanks.” Marco replied, a bit out of breath with a red face. Jean pulled Marco's jacket tighter around his body, loving the warmth it gave off instead of having to endure the cold winds.

“Hit this one out of the park for me.” Jean nodded. The freckled boy was taken aback for a minute since Jean rarely showed this much enthusiasm for one of their games. He flushed slightly before nodding at Jean, picking up a water and taking a quick gulp of it and running back on the diamond, the other team already in place as they waited for Marco to finish getting ready. Marco was obviously nervous, being the first one up to bat after the inning, and more specifically, after ending their last inning himself. The other team was definitely fired up now, and were planning on getting him back for ending their streak of scores. Marco tapped the tips of his shoes against the dirt, then nodded.

The rival team's pitcher had no expression on his face as he squinted his eyes at the catcher, trying to figure out a pitch before, without much warning, he pulled his arm back, lifted his leg off of the ground, and then pitched a screw ball, the ball curving away from Marco. Before the freckled boy had a chance to react, the catcher grabbed it, the umpire yelling, “strike one!” as Marco's eyes widened with shock. He didn't remember the pitch being that fast before. They must have switched pitchers and Marco just didn't notice, because this was on a whole other level than before.

The pitcher readied himself again, expression unchanging as he pulled his arm back again, this time, going for another screw ball. As he readied himself to let the ball go, it slipped from his hand before he was finished, and it curved in instead of out, smacking into Marco's arm dead-on. The freckled boy dropped his bat, clenching his eyes shut and crouching down after dropping his bat. He massaged his arm with a gentle touch while Hanji shouted from the dugout to the umpire.

“That was a dirty shot, you know it, ump!” Hanji yelled. The umpire shook his head, hardly paying the coach any attention as they went on, Marco calming his muscles as they spasmed from the shock of the ball hitting him.

“Hey, ump, open your eyes!” Came a familiar shout from the dugout. Marco turned to find Jean was yelling, as well as the rest of the team while their rivals scoffed and rolled their eyes. Marco put a thumbs up at Jean, picking up his bat like it was nothing, though his arm was throbbing at this point. Jean scoffed under his breath, but was far too proud of Marco, whether he was just enduring the pain out of pride or not. “Marco!” Jean shouted once more. “You got this. C'mon.”

“Can you still bat?” Hanji asked Marco quickly. “You can walk, you don't have to hit it again. That kid! I can't believe that. Oooh, it makes me so mad!”

“Calm down.” The umpire began, to which he earned a heavy lecture from Hanji immediately about the ethics of baseball and the number one idea is to not hit anybody else because it's not a contact sport. “Okay, okay, sorry. It's an automatic walk anyways.” The umpire said after turning to Marco. “He hit you. Go to first base, kid.”

Marco walked to first with an obvious grimace on his face, watching as Annie came to bat after him. The first baseman gave a quiet snicker as the short blonde readied herself

“Hey.” Marco's voice was firm as the first baseman looked at him with the same smirk on his face. “Don't laugh at her.”

“Or what? Is she gonna go crying to her mommy?”

Marco gritted his teeth, his hand clenching into a fist as the baseman kept the same smug look on his face.

“You got this, Marco!” Jean yelled from his spot at the fence, hoping Marco heard him over all the others cheering now that something had happened in the game. As the crowd finally quieted down a bit and waited for Annie to bat, Jean watched Annie swing at the first pitch, miss, and brush her hair from her face with a frown. Then, as Annie readied herself for another swing, she glanced to her right, watching Marco attentively.

Marco moved off of the base, the first baseman furrowing his brows before the pitcher noticed as well. The blonde at bat nodded, readying herself for the next pitch.

“He's going to steal a base.” Jean mumbled to himself. Armin heard the other boy say that and moved over to the side of the dugout, leaning against the fence with him.

“Marco's specialty is stealing bases. He's a great pitcher, and even better at short stop and second base, but nothing could beat how he steals bases.”

“Isn't that really hard? I thought you only did that if you were fast.”

“You haven't seen Marco run, then.” Armin said, pushing himself off of the fence. “Watch him. And watch him closely. It happens fast.”

Jean leaned forward, lacing his fingers through the fence and peering through, watching his friend, but also taking glances at Annie. Marco moved forward more, the first baseman obviously getting antsy as he leaned to his right as well.

Jean's hands clasped together as he stood against the fence, watching Marco's face show nothing but utter concentration. The entire crowd went quiet as the pitcher threw a fastball, Annie swinging her arms forward and missing the ball as it went straight for the catcher's mitt. However, the crowd screamed anyways, watching as Marco sprinted for second, the ball leaving the catcher's mitt as Marco began to slide for the base, the second baseman yelling as the ball flew towards him, and just barely missed his mitt. Jean unconsciously screamed, jumping and screaming out as Marco's leg hit second, the umpire yelling safe before the freckled stood up, dusted himself off, and nodded Annie at home base. She lowered her gaze to the ground, smiling to herself and then picking her bat up once more.

Jean jumped with joy from his spot, pulling Marco's jacket up to his face and muffling his yells of excitement. With a red nose, Jean sat himself down again, watching as Marco stayed on base this time. Annie hit the ball just past shortstop, Marco having to sprint and slide to third while she ran to first. Next up, Reiner.

“Told you he was amazing.” Armin said. “I want him to steal home, but with Reiner up, I'm sure there'll be no need.” Armin trailed off slightly, then picked up his sentence. “You should've seen him last year. It was nuts how many bases he stole.”

Reiner cracked the ball, running surprisingly fast to first base as Marco raced to home, Annie to second, and up at bat was Bertholdt. Jean bit his finger, chewing his nail in anticipation as he wondered, would Bertholdt keep it in the park and hope Mikasa could pull off a home run when she went up, or was he just going to hit it out and get themselves the leg up?

Marco walked up to the fence of the dugout, waving for Jean as the brunette barely noticed, running over while he zipped up Marco's jacket, smiling at the freckled junior. Armin had left after Bertholdt went up, seeing as he would be after Mikasa. Marco wiped his forehead free of sweat, his black hair sticking to his forehead slightly.

“I couldn't hit it out of the park,” Marco said a little out of breath, “but I stole second for you.”

Hearing that sentence made Jean blush, though he couldn't tell if it was from the winds or if he was legitimately flattered hearing Marco say that.

“Ah, was that too dramatic?” Marco said suddenly, waving his hands in front of him. “Sorry! I do that sometimes.”

“No, it was really rad.” Jean said, nodding. “Thanks for stealing a base for me.”

“It was my pleasure.” Marco replied. “Thanks for giving me the motivation to play like that again. Risqué.”

“I thought risqué was only for the dirty stuff.” Jean said quickly. Marco winked, a twinkle in his eye that made Jean's heart skip – there it was, again! – and he shushed Jean, walking away to watch his teammates annihilate their rivals.

**

“Let me see your arm.” Jean said, keeping his voice low as the others cheered and yelled, praising one another for a good game and beating their rivals for the first time in a while. Marco shook his head. “Please? I know how to treat this kind of stuff.”

“I... Er, sure. I just meant that I know how to take care of it too? I have been hit before.”

“So have I.” Jean said matter-of-factly. “Not by balls, of course.” He snickered.

“I bet you've taken a few balls.” Eren chimed in, earning a quick glare from Jean before the boy pushed Marco's sleeve up, staring at the red welt on his arm.

“Jesus Christ.” Jean hissed, hovering his fingers over the red skin and furrowing his brows. “This is going to take months to completely go away.”

“It's okay, I've had one of these before. It hurts for a while too! But, it was worth it. We managed to score most of our points in that inning, so... I can live with it.” Marco smiled, his eyes focusing on Jean as the brunette murmured to himself, running over to the freezer and pulling out an ice pack.

“Here.” Jean brought the ice pack wrapped in a towel before he dropped to his knees and pressed it lightly against Marco's arm. Marco held it for a moment as Jean reached into his backpack and pulled out a bottle, shaking out two pills and handing them to Marco while he held the ice pack again. “Advil works best. Those other ones don't do shit.”

“Aw, thank you.” Marco said, swallowing the pills down and then offering to hold the ice pack.

“Oh, I-I got it.” Jean said. “We should probably get going though. I think my mom is waiting for me outside. I told her to pick me up after the game. Hey, maybe you could actually meet her! I mean, I know you talked to her before, but that was before you were my friend. She says that you sound really nice so I was-”

“You talk about me to your mom?” Marco interrupted, Jean's eyes widening with shock before he realized just what he had said. Marco apologized for interrupting, but smiled gently. “Yeah, I'd love to meet her again. Just let me get my shoes, I left them over there.” Marco walked past a row of lockers, reaching down to pick up his shoes.

As he rose to slip them on, Reiner and Bertholdt stood in front of him, scaring the younger junior. Bertholdt waved meekly, apologizing for anything Reiner was about to say. “About what?” Marco cocked his head.

“Going to meet his mom, hm?” Reiner began, keeping his voice low as Bertholdt kept an eye on Jean. “That's kind of cute.”

“Uh, yeah, I guess so.”

“Maybe even boyfriend cute.” Reiner teased lightly. Marco's face flushed to a bright red, his cheeks hot as he shook his head. “Oh, c'mon, Marco. He's adorable, and he's really nice to you. There's no way you don't want a piece of that.”

“Reiner!” Bertholdt scolded loudly, making Jean glance in their direction before he peered around the corner of the lockers.

“Hey, I'm actually gonna go with Armin. Make sure you keep your arm iced.” Jean said. “See you tomorrow.”

“Y-yeah!” Marco shouted without realizing it, his face warm and uncontrollably red. “Bye!”

Jean's expression changed from caring to confused, but shrugged it off and left with the short blonde, the two talking about their test in trigonometry and how Jean was definitely going to fail.

“W-what makes you think I like Jean like that?” Marco managed to get that sentence out before Reiner shrugged, pursing his lips slightly.

“He took off days to come see our games, but he only cheers for you. You give him rides home without hounding him for money. You two make so many sex jokes, it's ridiculous. You share food, hang out every waking moment at school, and not to mention, you just let him go home with your jacket on, which you lent him because you didn't want him to get sick. _And_ he was very, very worried about your arm. Oh, and what was that thing Bertholdt saw a while ago? Was it hand-holding?”

Marco's embarrassment had cooled for a moment as he remembered the night they both ran out of the haunted hallway, and Jean held Marco's hand. But that was just a fluke, wasn't it? Jean was just scared and wanted to get out of there, wanted to get Marco out of there, just wanted Marco to be safe, and _oh my god, how did Marco miss that, he was totally hitting on Jean the entire ride home. How do you do that without realizing it?_

“Oh my god.” Marco said, hiding his face behind his hands. “I didn't even _know_. I just thought... I just thought that it was my usual.... W-what do I do?”

Bertholdt hushed Reiner, as the blonde would most definitely say something lewd to the poor freckled boy who was obviously still in shock.

“You should just relax and think about it before you do anything big.” Bertholdt said. “It might just be a little crush that'll blow over in a week. Although it has been pretty obvious for quite some time that it's something more than a little crush. A-anyway, just don't act differently in front of him! He'll think something is wrong, that maybe you don't like him or you know he likes you and it'll just ruin things.”

“But I do know he likes me!” Marco shouted suddenly, making Eren and Mikasa stop as they passed by the lockers.

“Did you finally tell him?” Eren asked. Reiner nodded, putting two thumbs up. “Sweet, now we can stop tip-toeing around it.”

“ _Everyone knew?_!” Marco continued yelling, hands shaking as Bertholdt tried to calm him down, his soft voice overpowered by Marco's frantic one, asking if everyone knew, if it was so obvious, what he should do, when Reiner grabbed his shoulders and shushed him.

“Listen to me. You're going to act like nothing has changed because nothing has changed, has it?” Marco furrowed his brows, trying to figure out what he meant by that when the blonde let out an exasperated sigh. Annie walked up instead, after listening to the disaster her friends had made, and decided that she should try talking to Marco instead.

“Let's go.” She tugged on his shirt. Marco gave in to her pulls, walking away with his eyes glued to the ground. The freckled boy trudged along beside her, his face still flushed scarlet as they walked out of the building. Jean had been talking to Armin for the most part, and was now slipping into his mom's car when he rolled the window down and spotted Marco. He waved his hand around as his mom started the car up. Marco's eyes met with Jean's, and he immediately blushed a bright red, his face hot and uncomfortable before he waved timidly back, Jean's mom pulling away from the curb before Jean could say anything to his friend.

“You still like him.” Annie said softly. “Nothing has changed between the two of you, you know. He's... He likes you a lot, too. And you like him a lot, I'm assuming. Nothing has changed, except you know your feelings are real now.”

“I guess it just threw me off....” Marco's sentence fell at the end, as did his voice. “But... now I'm going to act all weird. How do I act in front of him now?”

“You act like you've always acted.” Annie's voice was serious, comforting in a way. “You act like he's your best friend because he is your best friend, right?”

“Yeah.” Marco nodded. “He is.”

“Then you treat him that way. You move at a pace you're comfortable with.” She said. “And maybe he'll make a move-”

“Annie, stop, it's okay-”

“-and then you'll be boyfriends-”

“-oh my god-”

“-like Reiner and Bertholdt.” She said, finishing her thought with a soft smile. It wasn't in her nature to smile, not in front of Marco. The freckled boy grinned, his eyes softening as he nodded.

“I'll try not to act different in front of him.” Marco said. “He's still my best friend.”

Annie nodded, then excused herself back to the club room. Marco slipped into his car, starting it up and then resting his head on the steering wheel as he gave a gentle sigh. He told himself to get a grip and relax, that he would deal with this better once he accepted his feelings. Marco wondered, as he drove home, past the street that led to Jean's own home, if his ~~friend~~ crush had dealt with his own feelings yet, or if he was just as clueless as Marco was.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment with typos and mistakes if you find any!! Thank you~


	5. Bleachers

Marco hadn't been playing too well at their past few home games, and Hanji almost threatened to take him out and have him replaced with somebody else since he was so distracted. The freckled boy didn't look like he wanted to be distracted though, but more that it just _happened_ , and that was when he started missing balls and pop flies that could have won them the game.

Jean kicked Marco's foot as he sat in front of him, munching on his sandwich and keeping his eyes glued to the ground while he stayed silent, for the most part.

“Hey.” Jean said, making Marco jump at the sound of his voice. Marco grinned nervously, apologizing for spacing out and saying it was due to a lack of sleep. “You okay?”

“Yes! I'm fine, fine, fine. Just really out of it.” Marco said. “Don't worry about me.”

Jean eyed the boy in front of him carefully, eyes suspicious before he opened his mouth to continue speaking. “You know, you've been acting really weird during games too. Is there something bugging you?”

Marco shook his head again, ready to quickly deny anything wrong when Jean quickly interrupted him.

“Do you not trust me enough... to tell me? I'll back off if that's it. I'm kind of pushy. Sorry.” Jean tilted his head slightly as he apologized, his brown hair sweeping over his forehead with an apologetic look in his eyes.

Marco's face quickly flushed to a deep red, and he apologized tenfold, then stood up and excused himself, running with his backpack slung over his shoulder towards the nurse's office. Connie walked up beside Jean, head cocked as he peered at Marco as well.

“What's up with him?” Connie asked as he took a bite out of an apple.

Jean shrugged. “I... have no idea. Has he been acting weird at practice?”

“Yeah, but I thought it was just being out of it. Maybe he doesn't want to play anymore. That happens sometimes. People will play for years and years and then one day just... poof.”

“Poof?” Jean furrowed his brows as he looked at Connie. “The hell are you talking about?”

“Y'know, poof. Like, it's gone? Poof?” Connie waved his hands around. The bell rang as Connie tried to explain what he meant, Jean picking up his backpack and flicking Connie's forehead.

“Get outta here, you poof. I have to get to class.”

Jean walked out of the cafeteria, taking his time as he watched Reiner, Bertholdt, and Annie walking together. The three joked around, laughing at one another as Bertholdt held the door open for his two friends. Jean sprinted towards them, grabbing the door just before it closed and tapped Bertholdt's side. The older, towering boy turned around, startled for a moment before he gave a gentle smile.

“Hey, Jean! You scared me for a minute.” He furrowed his brows for a moment while Reiner and Annie turned around as well. “What is it?”

“I...” Jean began, but had no idea what to say. What was he supposed to say? He didn't even know why he thought any of them would know what was wrong with Marco. “M-Marco's been acting really weird around me... but he still talks to you guys normally.” Jean hesitated, his shoulder slouching slightly as he thought about how truly lonely felt again. Marco was his closest friend since he started at Trost, and truth be told, he was the only reason Jean had kept himself away from fighting. Jean was staying at Trost for Marco, and now he was acting like Jean was some stranger he couldn't trust.

“We have to tell him.” Annie mumbled. “It's not fair to let him stay like this.”

“No, we can't.” Reiner butted in quickly. “This isn't our business.”

“Reiner, you made this our business the minute you told Marco.” Bertholdt's normally calm voice changed into an intimidating one, Reiner glaring at him before he clicked his tongue and turned away. “What, you're just leaving now?”

“I have class.” Reiner waved his hand. “Don't have time for this.” And with that, he started down the hall, turned the corner, and disappeared from sight. Annie looked up at Bertholdt, shrugging lightly and doing the same as Reiner, after she apologized to Jean and told him to get through it.

“I can't believe them.” Bertholdt bit his lip, but turned his attention back to Jean. Jean looked even more lost as he kept his mouth shut. “But... they're right.” He said. “This isn't our business at all, Reiner is the one that started all this. I think....” Bertholdt trailed off, trying to put together a cohesive sentence before Jean interrupted him.

“Is it because of me?” Jean said, his voice quiet. “He's not distracted by me, is he?”

“Well... yes. But not for the reason you think!” Bertholdt quickly interjected, but it was already too late. Jean frowned, gritting his teeth.

“I knew it. He couldn't even tell me as a friend.... At least I know now.”

“No, Jean. You don't get it.”

“That's okay.” Jean said to Bertholdt. “I'd rather not get it.” The second bell rang, and Jean sniffled, wiping his eyes with the back of his arm and faking a smile at the taller boy. “I'd rather not understand. But thanks... and tell Annie and Reiner thanks.” Jean waved. “Good-bye, Bertholdt.”

There was a tone in his voice that made Bertholdt's spine tingle for a minute, suspicious of the younger boy as Jean turned a corner and left the ominous 'goodbye' in the air.

**

The next day, Jean didn't show up at lunch. Marco, of course, noticed this as he sat in silence, Armin taking a seat beside him and twiddling his fingers. The blonde had no idea what to say to his friend, considering now Marco knew that Jean liked him, or at least that he liked Jean, and things weren't the same as before.

“Marco?' Armin tapped the freckled boy's shoulder. “You okay?”

“Yeah.” Marco nodded. “But Jean isn't here.” He continued, looking around him to make sure Jean wasn't just talking with somebody else.

“You are acting really weird around him.” Armin commented. “Maybe he thinks you don't like him anymore. I mean, even as a friend. You won't talk to him, joke around like you used to. All you do is sit and stare.” Armin tried keeping himself from sounding disappointed. “You need to talk to him.”

“How am I supposed to talk to him if he's not here?” Marco replied quickly, and with a bit of attitude.

“Marco, don't even act like him not being here is the reason you're not talking to him.” Armin scolded the freckled boy. “You wouldn't talk to him even if he was here. But you have to. You have to find him and tell him about how you feel, or else, you're going to lose a friend, and who knows what he'll do.” Armin finished softly. “Just don't keep avoiding him. He doesn't deserve that.”

“I know....” Marco sighed, rubbing the back of his head as he stood up and picked up his backpack. “I'm really going about this the wrong way, huh?”

Armin nodded, but decided not to add anything in so he didn't upset Marco again. Marco was already so nervous, Armin thought if he said anymore, he would have a breakdown. Did the boy really not know how to deal with his feelings at all?

“Besides, you have to clear your head for Tuesday. It's our biggest game!”

Marco grinned, nodding as Armin invited Eren and Mikasa to sit with them, which brought along Connie and Sasha. Their little group laughed and joked around, and Marco even managed to have a few laughs, but his mind was elsewhere. Jean had to be around there somewhere. If Marco could just find him, and work up the courage to talk to him, they could work through their problems and finally be together again.

**

Jean was ditching his classes all day by hiding under the bleachers in the gym, which was surprisingly clean considering most people just tossed trash under the bleachers. He sat in the darkest corner by himself, making sure to keep quiet as he scribbled down a math problem since he had forgotten to do it last night. His parents were definitely going to hear about him skipping classes from the school. He wondered how they would react since it had been a while since he had done something like that.

Jean huffed quietly, pulling his phone from his pocket and checking his texts, four of them from Marco and one from Bertholdt. Jean hesitated opening the lock screen, not wanting to see anything Marco had to say, but did it anyways.

_hey, where are u? i saw u this morning._

_lunch is rlly boring without u._

_did i do something?? pls text me back, i want to talk._

… _.please, Jean?_

The brown haired boy felt his heart skip a beat before he smiled softly and put his phone away, not bothering to check the one from Bertholdt. He closed his math book and shoved the extra papers in his backpack before peeking his head around the corner of the bleachers, making sure teachers weren't out to catch him. So far, he couldn't see anything, but was cautious while he took a step out and threw his backpack over his shoulder, carefully opening the gym door and turning the corner. As he glanced behind himself once more, he crashed into another shorter figure. Jean fell back, landing on his behind before looking up and frowning at the sight of nobody else but Eren Yeager in front of him. Eren smirked, giving the other boy a scoff as Jean pushed himself off of the ground, glaring at Eren.

“What an idiot. How did I know you'd be here? Such an obvious place for someone to hide.” Eren was ready to turn his back on Jean when Jean snapped back at him.

“Who said I wanted somebody looking for me, let alone you?”

“Hey, I didn't want to look for you either, Armin sent me. I could honestly care less. But you're ruining our team. Marco isn't playing right because of you, and since Marco is friends with pretty much everybody, we're all down in the dumps. So go fix it so we can play right.”

Jean laughed loudly, a toothy grin appearing on his face as shoved Eren.

“How do you know it's my fault? You're the only that stole his favorite position. And since you stole pitcher from him, he has to switch positions constantly. All because 'Yeager is so good at pitching'.”

Eren growled, his face a light red. “Trust me on this one, Jean, it's definitely not my fault.”

“Nah, I think... I'm right.” Jean chuckled. “But it's okay, let's all just blame this on me, everyone else seems to love doing that anyway. All Jean's fault the team sucks, even though all I do is show up at games.”

“Oh my god!” Eren shouted. “Shut up! It is all your fault, you're the root of all of this, and if you would just go talk to Marco and figure this shit out-”

“What? What is there to figure out?” Jean's voice cracked for a moment as he thought about Marco, and the things Bertholdt said the day before. Was he really ruining the team? Jean didn't understand that, not even a little. “Should I just stop being Marco's friend? Since I caused this bullshit, since I caused everything, I should just never speak to him again, right?”

Eren opened his mouth to say something else, but Jean cut him short, grabbing him by his shirt and throwing him down.

“Maybe I should just leave this fucking place and everything will be all better then.” Jean's voice was low, quiet as Eren stood up, wiped off his shirt, and then lunged for Jean, straddling his hips and pinning his hands down before throwing a punch to Jean's jaw. Jean reached up and threw Eren down, grabbing him by his shoulders and throwing him to the side, the other boy groaning before he stopped Jean from punching him.

“If you fight, you're expelled, remember?” Eren growled, crawling away from Jean before kicking his arm away, Jean holding onto it and throwing a punch with his left instead.

“I've fought a lot, Yeager, hurting my right arm isn't gonna stop me.”

“You're a fucking tool, y'know that?” Eren hissed, dodging a punch from Jean before punching the other boy in his stomach. Jean keeled over, then allowed Eren to bask in his glory before lunging after him and pinning him to the wall, Jean punching Eren in the cheek and then once in the stomach, as Eren had done to him. Both boys were out of breath for a minute, Jean spitting out a glob of blood on the ground and watching as Eren rubbed his cheek.

As they stood in silence, Jean looked to his right and found a teacher standing at the end of it, tapping their foot in disappointment while Jean and Eren pulled themselves apart and began walking down the hall, ready to hear the lecture from their principal. Jean picked up his backpack, wiping his bloody nose with the back of his arm while the teacher pointed them towards the office, Eren pushing Jean into the wall once more, and Jean tripping Eren again.

“Do you ever listen, or are you just a total fucking idiot?” Eren asked Jean before the door to the office opened, their principal standing at his desk, arms crossed over his chest.

**

Marco rushed to the office as soon as he heard, and he was greeted by all the other players on the baseball team, along with coach Hanji. They argued amongst themselves, shouting over one another, but Marco just shoved through them, opening the door to the office and rushing into the nurse's office, Jean sitting on a bed with an ice pack pressed to his mouth while Eren stood in the corner with an ice pack to his cheek. Marco walked over to Jean, a frown already playing upon his lips as Jean looked away, mumbling an apology.

“What're you sorry for?” Marco said, taking a seat beside his friend.

“For fighting.” Jean said under his breath. “For fighting Yeager. For... not talking to you.” Jean said, looking at Marco and leaning his head on his shoulder. “For getting Yeager suspended for a week.”

“Eren's suspended?”

“Yeah, well, horse-face is suspended too.” Eren said before spitting out some more blood. It had slowed down now, after they had finally relaxed. “One week. I managed to keep the principal from expelling him.” Eren pulled the towel from his mouth and leaned forward towards Jean. “You're welcome, asshole.”

“Shut the fuck up.” Jean snapped back, the two of them ready to argue once more before Marco grabbed Jean's face and rested his head on Jean's shoulder instead. “I wouldn't even be suspended if it wasn't for you.”

“Shush.” Marco said with a firm voice. “I'm the one who should be sorry. I haven't been a very good friend.”

Jean's face flushed as they rested there, Eren looking at the doorway where the coach walked in, followed by the rest of the team. Mikasa grabbed Eren by his ear, scolding him with a cold glare, while the rest of them kept themselves relatively calm.

“Eren is suspended.” Coach Hanji began. “And our game is on Tuesday. We can't put the game off for a week, not when we have a perfectly capable pitcher. So,” they paused and looked at Marco, a grin on their lips, “you're pitching. Armin offered to play first, Connie will play shortstop, and Sasha will play second. We have everything covered, as long as you want pitcher.”

“Oh...” Marco began softly. “I'm... I'm pitching?”

Jean smiled softly, though he could tell Marco was nervous as Marco rested his hand on Jean's wrist, painfully close to Jean's own.

“Yeah, you are. Please, practice some pitching over the weekend. We'll have to practice on Monday, but that's it. You'll have to be ready on Tuesday, no pressure. We're all counting on you, hon.”

Hanji left without another word, leaving the rest of the team along with Jean in the nurse's office. Reiner nudged Bertholdt's side as they watched Marco and Jean in silence. Reiner mumbled something softly in Bertholdt's ear, then Bertholdt elbowed Reiner in the side and scolded him softly before smiling gently as well. If Marco didn't know better, he would've thought they were obviously whispering about their current situation.

“All right, shoo, shoo!” The nurse said, telling the rest of the team to leave, though Marco stayed beside Jean's side, even after she said school was almost out for the day. Their breathing leveled, soft breaths relaxing one another as Marco rubbed his thumb over Jean's wrist in circles, smiling even as Jean's mom came rushing into the office, shouting about how embarrassed she was of her son's actions, and how he'd be grounded immediately. When Jean's mom stormed in, shortly followed by Eren's own mother (whose face was serious and horrifyingly intimidating), she spotted Marco and Jean sitting closely together, silence washed over them as their hands touched, and then Jean looked up at his mom, nodding as he stood up and apologized.

“Jean, I...” Marco began as they walked out of the office and into the hallway. “I'm sorry.”

“You don't have to apologize.” Jean said. “I'm the one that's been a shitty friend.” Jean glanced behind him at his mom, who spoke with the principal along with Eren's mother. They both stood, speaking quickly, probably one over the other as the principal tried to keep up with both of them. “Even if I'm grounded, I'll still come to your game.” Jean said with a light blush. “I'm not working. I'm sure if I just beg my mom, I'll make it.”

“No, you don't have to!” Marco smiled. “You've seen all of our games so far, and... can I admit something to you?”

“What?” Jean leaned forward. Marco brought his lips to Jean's ear, warm breath tickling at his skin before he whispered softly.

“I'm actually kind of happy you fought Eren. Now I can pitch, even if it's only for one game. Thanks.” Marco finished and then threw his arms around Jean's body, squeezing tightly while Jean simply stumbled over his words, stuttering out a 'you're welcome' before he wrapped his arms around Marco as well.

“Besides,” Marco said, “you still have to bring me back my jacket.”

“You're an ass.” Jean replied lightly, his trembling calming itself as he stuffed his hands in his pocket. “But I love you.”

Marco's expression immediately changed from its playful one to one of pure shock. His eyes widened, and his jaw went slack before Jean glanced around, trying to figure out what Marco was so confused about.

“Uhm?” Jean said.

“Y-y-you s-said...”

“I said....” Jean trailed off. “What? Oh, wait, the 'I love you'? I meant like, I love you, even though you're an ass of a friend. Is that better?” Jean said. “Sorry. I forgot that people aren't really used to that. Whatever. Point is, you better kick ass in this next game, I'm going to be cheering for you as loud as I can.”

“No pressure or anything.” Marco said with heavy sarcasm.

Jean grinned, punching Marco's shoulder once more before his mom came out of the office, dragging him out by his ear while Jean let out a long drone of “Ow, ow, ow, ow ow ow ow!”'s.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ooooooooooooooooohhhhhhhshit shit went down (not rlly tho)  
> anyways comment with typos bc i know i make a lot of those owo


	6. Overworked

Late on a Tuesday, after a particularly uneventful day in class, Marco Bodt sat in the club room while his other teammates psyched themselves up for the upcoming game. It was one of their biggest, and definitely the most important to all of them, but all Marco could think about was, "What if I messed up?"

He was sure the other players had faith in him, as even Eren gave him words of reassurance here and there when they spoke on Facebook, and Reiner and Bertholdt endlessly told him that it was going to be a breeze. But the idea of losing still lingered in his mind. If they lost, he wouldn't just be letting himself down, but the seniors on the team as well. They were counting on him for a good game, but after not pitching for the entire season, suddenly throwing him in didn't seem fair at all.

But even considering all that, he was still happy that Jean fought Eren, selfish as it may seem. He now had a chance to play again, even if it was for one game, so he thought that he may as well make the best out of it.

Marco twiddled his fingers, trying hard to not show any emotion on his face. He had a bad habit of doing that, or so he was told. Even Jean mentioned it once or twice.

Jean....

Just thinking about him made Marco flustered. It was a little ridiculous now, since Marco should have dealt with his feelings by now, but thinking about them made it worse.

While Marco sat in silence, trying to work through everything he was feeling and thinking about, he completely missed Eren and Jean walking into the club room, side by side, and smiling. The rest of the team cheered and ran up to them both, as though it had been such a long time since they last saw them, but Jean and Eren just grinned and urged the others to go back to what they were doing before they walked in.

"We actually came in just to see one person." Eren admitted as he elbowed Jean in the side. Jean hissed through his teeth, but nodded, looking to the bench where Marco sat, face a bright scarlet as soon as they made eye contact. Marco brought his hand up, meekly waved at his crush, and then let out a light laugh. Jean did the same, but was roughly shoved towards Marco by an irritated Eren. The other boy waved and walked off, probably going to catch up with Armin and the others before the game started.

"Uh...." Jean began, followed by the same reaction from Marco. He chuckled, looking around them to make sure nobody else was around, or at least listening. "Hi. I told you I'd be here for your game."

"Thanks." Marco said, sounding out of breath and awkward as he looked away as well. "You... look good. I-I mean, like, n-not tired or anything. Not saying you looked bad before, you looked good before too, but- I mean, you still look good now, you just look better now?"

"Dude." Jean cut Marco off before he could keep going and embarrass himself more. "It's okay. Thank you for the compliment. I think." Marco let out a laugh as well, his face bright red, which accentuated his freckles more than normal. "I've just been working and doing homework. My mom wasn't mad at me after I explained everything to her. She gets it now, so... she's lightened up a little. After a really long talk. It was actually kind of awkward. How are you?"

"Oh... I'm just the same. My life is just boring. I'm boring." Marco said. "That's a thing."

"I don't think you're boring." Jean said with a smile. "I think you're pretty cool. That's why I like you so much."

_Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit_ , Marco thought, his face warming up as he looked away from Jean, anywhere but at Jean, and nodded quickly.

"That's weird." Marco said. "That you like me so much. You're this cool guy, and you do all this cool stuff, and you're, like.... edgy or something. Like, you don't care what other people think about you." Marco shook his head, brushing his black hair from his forehead. "And I'm just really boring and this goody-two-shoes."

"Maybe I like boring goody-two-shoes." Jean's tone of voice changed slightly, but Marco couldn't tell how. It sounded deeper, maybe huskier. "That's... kind of what I'm here for though. I wanted to talk to you about something really important. Yeager helped me with it all weekend, so.... I just wanted to run it past you. Is that okay?"

"Sure." Marco said, his heart beating heavily. He swore he could feel his pulse in his hands, hear it in his ears. He was too nervous for his own good.

"Okay...." Jean said. "Here goes.... I wanted to-"

"All right, listen up!" Coach Hanji came storming into the club room, the entire place going silent as they stood with their hands on their hips, and a grimace playing upon their lips. "This is a big game today. So there's not going to be any screwing around, any nonsense, or any weakness!"

"'Scuse me." Eren waved his hand in the air. "Doesn't screwing around and nonsense mean the same thing?"

"Get outta here, Yeager, before I suspend you for another week. Now, we're playing a very prestigious school, and that means we have to give it our all. There's no room for improvement here today, no reassurance of a next time. If we mess up, this is it."

"Uhm, coach..." Christa walked in with her clipboard at her side. "This isn't the pep talk we agreed on. Let me handle it from here, since you've already frightened them into silence." Coach Hanji frowned and grumbled, moving to the side with their arms crossed at their chest. Christa cleared her throat, standing up straight and eyes snapping open.

"What coach Hanji said isn't true. Today is just another game. It's important, yes, but just another game. I don't want to pressure you guys by telling you about how there's no going back now, because there is always one more chance. If we don't win this year, we come back next year. If you miss a couple of pitches, so what? Your other teammates have your back. You are not alone on that field. This team is a machine, working together so everything functions properly. Do your best, support one another, and most importantly, have fun because in the end, winning won't be worth it if it wasn't fun." Christa took a soft breath and then gave everybody a toothy grin. "I wish you all the best! I'm sure coach Hanji is just nervous since this is the first time we've played coach Erwin's school.”

The room kept quiet, everyone's eyes glossy and excited before Reiner broke the silence with a loud yell of reassurance. The others joined in, even Marco shouted a few times, but that speech alone didn't help soothe his anxiety anymore than Jean had. Ymir ran up to Christa, pulling her into her arms and spinning her around before their eyes met, and Marco felt a pang of jealousy in his chest. He wasn't jealous of one of them, but their relationship, and how open they were with one another.

Marco unknowingly looked over at Jean, the other boy meeting his gaze as well, and something in Jean's eyes made Marco's heart flutter. Marco felt an odd warmth come over him, particularly at his hand, where he looked and saw Jean's fingers resting over his own. Marco's face flushed to a deep red before Jean pulled his hand away, smiling softly.

"I'll be in the stands, next to Yeager. I'll be the one cheering loudest for you." Jean put his thumbs up, a blush decorating his cheeks as he grinned. "Have fun, okay?"

"I-I will."

"You're going to play great today." Jean reassured him before punching Eren in the shoulder, the two of them leaving side by side.

"I will." Marco repeated, looking down at his hand and squeezing it tight, smiling as he pushed himself off of the bench, slid on his shoes, and picked up his mitt. It was like the whole atmosphere had changed.

**

The game was intense. Jean even kept his cheering down during the quiet moments, his face pressed against the fence as he watched Marco at second, leaning to his right, leaning, moving just a few steps away as he stared at third.

“Stealing a base from second is the hardest.” Eren commented softly.

“Why?”

“Because throwing from catcher to third is like the easiest thing ever. You'd have to be a total idiot to miss.”

“But Marco is super fast. There's no way they'll get him.”

“Well, yeah, but it'll be close. He's gonna have to haul ass.”

Jean clutched his fingers tighter against the fence, keeping his eye on the freckled boy, and Annie at bat. The blonde tightened her messy bun, then picked up the bat, swinging it once or twice for extra measure. The pitcher smirked at the sight of the 5' girl, spitting to his right before throwing a screwball, Annie's weakest hit. She let it fly straight to the catcher's mitt, her hair barely moving as the wind whipped past her. The umpire shouted 'strike one!', making Marco lose confidence for a minute before Annie lifted her bat, this time, trying to make eye contact with Marco. However, the freckled boy didn't look up at her or even at Jean, but at third base, the baseman there smacking this mitt against their hand with a smirk on their face.

Annie watched as this time, the pitcher didn't throw a fast, screw, or even a curveball, but a splitter. Annie's eyes widened as kept herself from swinging and watched the ball bounce off of the ground.

“Ball!” The umpire shouted this time, making the pitcher roll his eyes. Annie huffed, pushing her helmet down her head and tapping the tips of her shoes against the base.

Marco was quickly losing confidence, taking a few steps back to second base as Annie shook her head. She wasn't about to let Marco lose his motivation, not now. They were winning, but if Marco lost confidence, the entire team would.

Annie tightened her grip on the bat, making eye contact with the pitcher who nodded at the catcher, then smirked at Annie and winked. She sneered, her teeth baring for a minute before she tried catching Marco's attention again, but the boy was back at second base, his body still in running position, but not as far as he should have been. As the pitcher's hand went slack, the ball slipping out and flying towards Annie's bat, Jean unknowingly leaned as close as possible, and let his excitement voice itself into words.

“Move your ass, Marco!” Jean screamed as Marco jumped at the sound of his voice, and immediately began to sprint towards third. The ball flew out of the catcher's mitt towards third, Marco beginning to slide as he leg reached out for the base. The third baseman reached their hand out, ball landing perfectly in the mitt as Marco slid onto the base. As Jean watched with disappointment, he thought Marco hadn't made it. But once the team began to cheer, he looked closer and saw that the third baseman wasn't standing on base.

“Yeah!!” Jean and Eren shouted, both of them yelling loudly and grabbing onto one another, jumping up and down like 12 year-olds. “Marco, Marco, Marco, Marco!” They chanted as the rest of the audience jumped in on it, Marco standing up and wiping his pants free of dirt. His face was flushed red, and he rubbed his neck lightly. Annie put a thumbs up to Marco, the expression on her face unchanging as she readied herself for the last pitch, which she easily cracked out of the park.

**

It was nearing the end of the game while Marco stood at the pitcher's mound, waiting for Ymir to throw down a number for the pitch. She waved her hand around a few times before she decided, throwing down a three. Marco nodded, as he usually trusted Ymir's judgment when it came to pitches. Marco rolled the ball around his palm, pulling his arm back and letting the ball fly out of his hand at a ridiculous speed. The white ball landed right in Ymir's glove, and the girl smirked, throwing down a different number now.

_Almost done._ Marco thought to himself, then said knock on wood to make sure he didn't jinx himself. His arm hurt a little, but that was normal, especially since Marco hadn't pitched in such a long time and he only had a few days to prep himself for nine innings of pitching without another pitcher to help him.

“Hey.” Eren nudged Jean as he chewed noisily, swallowing down some chips with his energy drink at his side. “Have you noticed Marco's pitches have gotten a lot faster?”

“Yeah. Isn't that good?”

“No.” Eren shook his head. “I don't mean the ball is faster. I mean, he's trying to get rid of the ball faster. Make sense? He's not extending his arm as much as he should be.” He chewed on his lip. “Something isn't right.”

Eren squinted his eyes as he stood up, walking towards the fence so he could peer closer. Jean did the same, not wanting to be overshadowed by Eren in any sense.

As Marco lifted his hand again to pitch, the ball slipped a bit early, allowing the batter to crack the ball to right field. The player for the other team sprinted to first base, sliding safely to base as the crowd cheered lightly, most of them offering reassurance to the home team.

“Look at the time he's taking between pitches.” Eren pulled Jean towards the dugout so he could ask Armin if he noticed as well. “He's taking more and more time. Maybe this is just me. Maybe I'm just freaking out.”

Jean watched Marco intently, his friend pushing his hair out of his face with a grimace. Marco readied himself for another pitch, pulling his arm back and throwing the ball.

“Wait, wait, wait!” Jean said. “Did you see that? His shoulder?”

“What about it?” Eren said as they reached the dugout, Armin noticing them and waving them in.

“It was shaking. Tell me you saw it.”

“Saw what?” Armin asked. “You guys okay?”

“We're fine. Marco doesn't look so good though. Look at his pitching.”

Armin pouted slightly. “Oh, c'mon, Eren. You sure you aren't just mad he's pitching?”

“Armin, I'm not a child.” Eren poked Armin in the chest accusingly. “Look at him. He's taking a lot more time between pitches than necessary. Jean said his shoulder is trembling, and he's not extending his arm as much as he should. There's something wrong.”

Coach Hanji listened in on their conversation as they went back and forth, but Hanji simply kept their gaze averted from Armin and Eren. If they admitted Marco was having issues now, the team would have to forfeit, and this was their biggest game of the year! How could they expect Hanji just to accept that?

“Hold on, hold on.” Armin tried calming Eren and Jean at once. “Let's just think this through logically. Even if Marco's arm was aching right now, he wouldn't lie to us about it. He's not that type of person. He knows that his health is important to the entire team.”

“Which would be the exact reason to lie about it!” Jean shouted, his voice unknowingly loud as he threw his hands over his mouth. Marco glanced at them, furrowing his brows but shrugging it off as nothing before he let another weak pitch fly out of his hand, to the batter, and then to center field. The first baseman runner booked it to second base, not missing a beat as he slid towards it, his foot barely reaching before he stood up and let out a loud yell of happiness. Marco rubbed his temples, taking a few deep breaths while Jean and Eren glared at him, suspicious of his actions as every moment passed.

“Boys.” Hanji called from the fence. “I'm going to tell you now that even if Marco is in pain, he isn't going to tell us that. And I can't call anymore time-outs.” Hanji crossed their arms over their chest. “Think about it. He hasn't pitched all season, this is his big chance to try and take back his position. Do you really think he's going to let a sore arm stop him?” Hanji paused. “But he's not thinking right either. It's not safe. I can't take him out.... We're just gonna have to wait and see.”

“You can't do that!” Jean shouted, slamming his hand against the fence. “He's going to seriously fuck his arm up, and then what? You're down a player! Think about what you're saying!”

“Do you think I don't know that?” Hanji snapped back at Jean. “But we're all depending on him right now. He is the most important part of our team! If he hurts himself, I don't know-”

A loud yelp came from the diamond as Hanji turned their attention back to the field. Marco keeled over, holding his arm close to his chest while the others ran towards him, all rushing around Marco to see what was wrong. Reiner was the first one to reach for Marco, unbuttoning his uniform and sliding it off of his arm to show his bare shoulder, which was now red and pulsing.

“He's strained something.” Reiner shouted, Marco trying to brush them off and act like it was okay, but as he stood up and tried moving his arm, a sharp pain shot down his veins. Marco hissed, holding onto a hand outstretched to him. Hanji ran out on the field where coach Erwin already stood. He met eyes with Hanji, a look of disapproval forming on his face.

“He's overworked. Do you have another pitcher?”

“....No. He's our only pitcher.”

Erwin gave them a knowing look. “That means you have to forfeit the game.”

Marco heard the very last word, his heart sinking to the bottom of his stomach as his shirt slid off of his shoulder completely, Jean staring from the dugout at Marco. Marco blinked rapidly, trying to keep tears from appearing, but failed miserably as Mikasa and Annie pulled Marco close to them, running their hands down his back and patting him slightly. They murmured reassurances to him, but nothing kept him from repeating that same word to himself over and over.

**

Jean watched from afar as the others slowly dispersed from the diamond, trying to convince Marco that it wasn't his fault they had to forfeit, but the boy didn't respond to their voices at all. Jean huffed quietly, taking a step onto the diamond and kicking some of the dirt around before he managed to muster up the courage to let out a quiet laugh. Marco glanced over his shoulder, a frown already on his face as he looked away. Jean walked to his side, standing with his fingers hooked in his pockets. He twirled his heel around in the dirt, making a small hole before he sat down next to Marco.

And he said nothing. Marco kept quiet, expecting Jean to say something, just one little thing so Marco could start crying and give in, but he said nothing. Jean just stared up at the sky, his eyes illuminated with the bright yellow streams from the sunset. Marco didn't bother to look at Jean, knowing what he was going to say already, so he kept quiet.

“I... Er, I think you did a really great job today.” Jean said, stumbling over his words as he tried to figure out what would help Marco.

“I made the team lose.” Marco said. “It's all my fault.”

“It's not your fault.” Jean replied quickly. “You did amazing, and you didn't even pitch all season. Like.... holy shit, dude. Even Yeager said you were better than him.”

“Of course he would. He just said that to make me feel better. But it doesn't change the fact that I made the team forfeit.”

Jean twiddled his fingers together, glancing at Marco's slouched figure as he held an ice pack to his bare shoulder. Marco sniffled slightly, wiping his face with his free hand.

“I just can't believe that it was my first time pitching since the beginning of the season, and I blew it.” Marco sighed. “I messed up so bad.”

Jean thought about what kind of response to offer to that, but Marco was so stubborn, he wouldn't listen to a word he said. Jean chewed his lip pensively, looking at his own hand before he stood up, wiping his pants free of dirt before he fell to his knees in front of Marco, gently taking Marco's fingers between his own. Marco dropped the ice pack on his shoulder from the sudden movement.

“I-I-I... I don't think any of this was your fault, and neither do your teammates!” Jean said, almost a bit too forcefully. He was terrible at making people feel better, why was he suddenly trying now? “So you need to accept that shit happens sometimes, and all you can do is let it happen. Now, c'mon, on your feet!” Jean said, Marco pushing himself off of the floor with his free hand. He shifted his torso slightly, a sharp pain shooting through his arm again as he winced. Jean apologized quickly.

“Okay, n-now.... I didn't get this far in my head!” Jean admitted with a flushed face. “So give me a minute.”

Marco grinned, the feeling of tears pricking at his eyes coming on as he stared at Jean, who was still holding his hand within his own.

“I got it. So now, I'm gonna go bandage your arm up, so it can get better soon because holding your hand this way is super uncomfortable. And then we're gonna go get pizza with the rest of the team because they all still love you.”

The feeling became overwhelming as Marco nodded, tears falling past his cheeks in steady streams before he tried wiping it away with the back of his hand.

“Then... maybe, if you want to, you can drive me home or s-something. Or maybe we can just hang out for a while or something because I really like you, and I hope you really l-like me in the same way!” Jean finished, his face bright red and warm as he looked at the ground.

Marco flushed lightly, but he reached his free hand out for Jean's face, fingers brushing against his cheeks before he pulled Jean closer. Jean looked up, and for the first time, realized Marco was taller than him. Marco nodded slowly, brushing his hand down Jean's arm and grabbing his hand. He pressed a soft kiss to Jean's cheek, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips before he pulled away.

“Let's go bandage my arm. Then get pizza. Then we can hang out for a while because I really like you in the same way.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ahh i'm glad i somehow managed to finish this instead of just leaving it and forgetting about it for 8 years or smth. sorry for the weak ass ending. but not rlly. also if there are mistakes, pls comment w them so i can fix that!!


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